"This important book is part of a new generation of historical research that challenges prevailing arguments for the medical and legal construction of homosexual identities in late nineteenth century Britain. Sean Brady demonstrates that British society could not tolerate the discussion necessary to form medical or legal concepts of 'the homosexual'. The development of masculinity as a social status is examined, for its influence in shaping societal attitudes towards sex and sexuality between men and fostering resistance to any kind of recognition of these phenomena. Imperatives to bolster masculinity as a social status precluded public recognition of the existence of sex and sexuality between men, even in terms that were hostile and pejorative."--Jacket.