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Jonathan Ned Katz, New York (U.S.A.):
The Invention of Heterosexuality
This talk focuses on the history and implications of the word heterosexual, and its changing definitions, as they originated in Germany and migrated to the U. S. through translations of Krafft-Ebing and Freud. It traces the heterosexual term and idea as they entered twentieth century American popular culture, where they helped to support a historically specific system of domination that upheld heterosexuals and subordinated homosexuals. The talk raises questions about the ontological status of heterosexuality and homosexuality: what kinds of things are they assumed to be? And it considers the political and social impact of those assumptions, and the value of questioning them.
About the Author:
Jonathan Ned Katz, Independent Scholar. Pub-lished six books 1973 - 1995 (among them "Coming Out! A Documentary Play About Gay Life and Liberation"; "Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A."; The Invention of Heterosexuality") and numerous essays, reviews, comments. General Editor of the reprint series "Homosexuality: Lesbians and Gay Men in Society, History, and Literature". Tought as adjunct at several New York colleges; Guest Lecturer on Lesbian and Gay American History at Yale, Princeton, Univ. of Chicago, Cornell, Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, City University of New York, etc. Founding Member, Gay Academic Union (1973) & National Writers Union (1980). Received an impressive number of Honors, including the DGSS Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Sex Research 1997. - Address: 81 Jane Street, New York, N. Y. 10014-1731, U.S.A. Phone: +1 212 / 243 6994; eMail: jnkatzl@aol.com 
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