Review: One Hundred Years of Homosexuality: And Other Essays on Greek Love

This, the most significant study of Greek homosexuality since the pioneering work of K. J. Dover, does not aim for an exhaustive or systematic treatment of Greek love but rather to formulate a theory of the erotics of male homosexuality and to apply it to a selected number of aspects in literature, philosophy, and Athenian social life. Accordingly, part one presents a lucid exposition of the two currently competing theories of homosexuality, essentialism and constructionism. Halperin is firmly in the camp of the latter and argues forcefully that homosexuality, and indeed all sexuality, is a social construct rather than an innate universal phenomenon. Although essentialists and readers of John Boswell's Christianity, Homosexuality, and Social Tolerance may not be convinced, they will still find the book provocative for its constructionist analyses of Greek paederasty and male prostitution. In the process of formulating his theory, the author provides a good introduction to the thought of Michel Foucault, the figure most influential in shaping Halperin's own views.