Problem in Modern Ethics

In a society ensnared by the shadows of ancient prejudices and outdated beliefs, John Addington Symonds boldly confronts the hypocrisy and misinformation that plague our understanding of sexuality. In this powerful essay, which circulated anonymously, Symonds emerges as a modern-day Virgil, guiding readers through the harrowing landscape of medico-legal definitions of sexual deviance that shaped his era and continue to echo in ours. He advocates for humane values amidst the labyrinth of Victorian taxonomies and the oppressive “terrorism” of religion that constructed the identity of the so-called ‘homosexual.’ Through a discussion of Walt Whitmans passionate poems about ‘manly love,’ Symonds dares to envision a brighter future for marginalized desires, yet acknowledges the harsh reality that such dreams remain uninvited in his time. (Introduction by Martin Geeson)