Son I am disappoint...that you announced that publically

Najmbadi's description of Qajar homoeroticism is reminiscent of Greek pederasty in many obvious ways. The importance of youth and gendered relationships, particularly in that "male beauty and male homoeroticism were considered superior sentiments", echoes Hellenistic patterns. I wonder why there is discussion in her work of the more modern influences of western social mores and assumptions, and discussion of the influence of medieval European homophobia in Murray and Roscoe's work, but no mention of the much earlier influences of Greek culture in the construction of Persian homosexuality. Perhaps it is not relevant in regards to her project to explain gendered Iranian modernity.

The contrast between the idea of a homosexual as a person type (which apparently is a Foucaultian framing) as opposed to just as a description of certain non-identitarian preference or set of acts is interesting as a concept. The attitude of "the will not to know" in Murray and Roscoe's piece, where sexual mores beyond functional procreation are ignored, seems like a much more reasonable and pragmatic approach than medieval and even moreso Victorian Europe's more confrontational approach. However, as Murray and Roscoe also point out, this has the effect of continuing the stigma toward homosexuality as a lifestyle, while western cultures' development of the much more controversial notion of a homosexual identity makes the "don't ask, don't tell" ideology seem oppressive.

Added comment: Yesterday in the Hinman dining hall there was a guy wearing a shirt that said "I'm more than who I F@$#". Perhaps that can be a useful locus of comparison?