Not So Queer
One in Twenty. By Bryan Magee. (Seeker and Warburg, 21s.) THE one in twenty of Mr. Magee's title repre- sents the supposed number of homosexuals— male and female—in our country. Mr. Magee freely admits his limitations : one of which, of course, is that as a non-participant, so to speak, this is the scene observed from the outside— Margaret Mead, one might say, on the Samoans, and not the Samoans on one another (let alone on Margaret Mead). However, since much writ- ing by homosexuals on homosexuality is hysteri- cal, this is no great disadvantage.
The nearest Mr. Magee came to direct in- volvement was at Amsterdam, whither he had journeyed to investigate a country where male homosexuality is legal. At a queer night spot, an enterprising male prostitute suggested to the author that, in the interests of scientific objec- tivity, he should come back to his flat for an experimental session. Mr. Magee politely de- clined this proposal—and its alternative that he should become a voyeur of the antics of the male whore and another client. 'If I had had more time I might have done this,' says Mr. Magee demurely, 'but . . .' Perhaps a pity.
Nevertheless, the reader will find the answers to most of the obvious questions (including details of homosexual techniques), and will pos- sibly be in for some surprises. For example: the theory that the crucial relationship, for homosexuals of both sexes, is with the father, not, as is usually supposed, the mother; the number of homosexual judges, barristers and policemen; the mistaken supposition that any alteration in the laws on homosexuality will greatly affect its incidence or its disadvantages; the strong narcissistic element in all homo- sexuality; and the frequency of lesbianism among female prostitutes. On lesbianism, indeed, Mr. Magee makes his most helpful contribution, since this is a topic normally taboo among the heterosexual—and indeed, as the author rightly points out, one disdained by homosexual males.
I think the author, despite the real excellence of his book, does go astray in several instances . . chiefly, no doubt, because he is trying to cover so vast a field in so small a compass. Mr. Magee is equivocal about bisexuality. He tells us that true bisexuals are few, that such people are not 'normal,' that they are scarcely to be found at all in 'the West,' and that in so far as they are. their 'real' bias is in fact homosexual. He appears to regard all married homosexuals not as possibly true bisexuals, but as exclusively the former—only 'a handful.' he tells us, being true bisexuals. The same is so, he says, of lesbians. But then he has told us categorically that 'quite a large proportion of the human race does regard bisexuality as the norm' and cites examples outside 'the West' for this. Now, if this is true outside 'the West,' which I think it is, how on earth does Mr. Magee know that in 'the West' itself (i.e., Western Europe and America, with a population of hundreds of millions of people) true bisexuality is hardly to be found?
Mr. Magee comes out in favour of changes in the law on male homosexuality, but dodges a chief issue about the Bill recently before Par- liament. He esteems it a crime to have sexual relations of any kind with persons below 'a certain age,' but thinks that above that age they should be admitted to homosexuals as well as heterosexuals. But he does not say which age. For heterosexuals, it is sixteen. For male homo- sexuals, it is to be twenty-one. The reasoning behind this is, no doubt, the supposition that dirty old men of fifty must be prevented from trying to seduce boys. But a changed law would also mean that all young men between the ages of puberty and legal majority will become criminals if they have sex together. In other words, at precisely the moment of adoles- cence at which a homosexual phase is most probable, we are going to make it criminal.
However, what is perhaps most valuable about this modest textbook is that it demonstrates the ways in which homosexuals are thoroughly ordinary (though many of them don't like to recognise this) and, in fact, conform to conven- tional male or female patterns despite their sexual deviations. If Mr. Magee's figure of 5 per cent is accurate, then there are about two and a half million male and female homosexuals in our land, and the more we get used to them, and stop them either being persecuted or making themselves a nuisance, then the better.
COLIN MacINNES
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