LGBT in the Ottoman Empire

History of LGBT in the Ottoman Empire

This article is about the history of the LGBT in the Ottoman Empire. For the history of the LGBT in modern-day Turkey, see LGBT history in Turkey.

The Ottoman Empire, which existed from the 14th century until the early 20th century, had a complex and varied approach to issues related to sexuality and gender, including those pertaining to individuals who would be considered part of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community today.

Concepts such as gay, lesbian or transgender did not exist in the Ottoman era, but identity based on sexual role was a recognised concept within society, as was atypical gender presentation (especially in younger males). Islamic law was the predominant legal framework, and it traditionally prohibited same-sex relations for men and women. However, in recent years, there has been more attention given to alleged homoerotic literature, poetry and art in the Ottoman Empire.

## Definitions and legal status[edit]

The Ottoman Empire was governed by different sets of laws during its existence. The Qanun, sultanic law, co-existed with religious law (mainly the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence).[1][2][3] Many Islamic societies, including the Ottoman Empire, did not openly discuss sex or sexuality; however, As'ad AbuKhalil argues that "Islam did not have the same harsh Biblical judgment about homosexuality as Christianity".[4]

For men, the terms gulampare was used to mean "male-lover" (men loving men), and zenpare to mean "woman-lover" (men loving women).[5] Hîz oğlanı [tr] were male sex workers who were registered by the state.[6] The concepts of 'lesbian' or 'gay' did not exist. Instead, identity was based on sexual roles, i.e. whether one was considered active or passive.[7] Boys and men without beards (emred) were considered sexually desirable and feminine, which allowed them to be "penetrable" and the objects of desire from older men.[8] Will Roscoe and Stephen O. Murray contend that the division between gender variance and sexual object choice occurred in the early 20th century. Until the late 1940s, being a homosexual was equated with being a non-masculine man or a non-feminine woman, while those considered "normal" were the 'masculine' men and 'feminine' women. This historical view of homosexuality, they say, was prevalent in the Muslim world, particularly during the medieval period (the Islamic Golden Age).[9] Adolescent men were socially permitted to desire older men or women. After puberty, they were expected to desire young boys or women. Being both passive and active at the same time could have led to social censure.[7]

The legal concept of gender in the Ottoman Empire was binary. However, in some places gender expression was more fluid. Köçek was a term for male dancers,[5] who were typically handsome, young, enslaved and effeminate. They usually dressed in feminine clothes and were employed as entertainers.[10] Men watching the köçeks would allegedly go wild, breaking their glasses, shouting themselves voiceless, or fighting and sometimes killing each other vying for the opportunity to rape, molest, or otherwise force the young men into sexual servitude.[11] This resulted in suppression of the practice under Sultan Abdulmejid I.[10] As gender and sexual roles were conflated at this time, the feminine köçek identity was associated with being the receptive partner in homosexual intercourse, which was seen as the role of the woman.[12]

### Prosecution of homosexuality[edit]

The question of whether homosexuality is adultery, that is, whether it is punishable according to Islamic law, has been discussed by the ulama (scholars of Islamic doctrine and law) for a long time. This is because homosexual intercourse is not described as much as adultery in the Qur'an.[7] The official sect of the Ottoman Empire was the Hanafi school. According to Imam Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi school, the crime of adultery and the crime of sodomy are different crimes. Therefore, the penalties are also different. While the penalties on this subject were found (however infrequently invoked) in the classical period, such as the laws of Selim I and the Kanuni law, there were no regulation on this subject in the Tanzimat-era laws (the laws of 1840, 1851 and 1858), which nullified all previous laws.[13]

### Pre-decriminalization (pre-1858)[edit]

Homosexuality has been documented in the Ecumene before the rise of Islam; the eunuch priests of galli have been considered by some to represent a pre-Islamic third gender.[14] European concepts of Ottoman Turks being addicted to pederasty and sexual perversion pre-date the Ottoman Empire; Stephen O. Murray says that it goes back to the time of the failed Crusades as an attempt to show Christian "moral superiority" to the Muslim world.[15]

The English historian Edward Shepherd Creasy wrote in 1835 that "it became Turkish practice to procure by treaty, by purchase, by force or by fraud bands of the fairest children of the conquered Christians who were placed in the palaces of the Sultan, his viziers, and his pachas, under the title of pages, but too often really to serve as the helpless materials of abomination".[16] Contemporaries such as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762), the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, denied that lesbian sexual activity occurred in the hammams (traditional gender-segregated public bathhouses).[17] However, egalitarian same-sex relations occurred, with terms for reciprocal acts (Arabic: meroof-mejhool, "insertive-passive") being used in the Arab world and Persian literature to refer to homosexual people and practises (i.e either mutual penetration or mutual fellatio among males).[18]

However, his work Sexuality in Islam, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba cites the hammam (public bathhouses) as a place where homosexual encounters in general can take place.[19][20] He notes that some historians found evidence of hammams as spaces for sexual expression among women, which they believed was a result of the universality of nudity in these spaces.[19] Hammams have also been associated with male homosexuality over the centuries and up to the present day.[19][21]: 14 [22]

Prior to 1858, Ottomans did not base sexual identities on attraction to a specific gender but distinguished between active and passive partners, often distinguished as "the lover" and "the beloved".[23] However, during this time, some Ottoman men were executed for sodomy.[24]

### Decriminalization (1858)[edit]

In 1858, the Ottoman society constructed a reform to their penal code that was fairly similar to the 1810 French Penal Code. The 1858 Ottoman Penal Code stated the following:

> Art. 202—The person who dares to commit the abominable act publicly contrary to modesty and sense of shame is to be imprisoned for from three months to one year and a fine of from one Mejidieh gold piece to ten Mejidieh gold pieces is to be levied

> — Penal Code of the Ottoman Empire, 1858.[25]

This statement is a translation from Article 330 of the French Penal Code which also decriminalizes homosexuality. Such a statement only partially decriminalizes homosexuality, making it legal for private same sex relationships while still holding public homosexual relationships to be unacceptable.[26]

During this period of time, it is speculated that most homosexual relationships took place behind closed doors. In private hammams, individuals were free to express their feelings and emotions in a comfortable safe space. However, once an individual left that safe space, the acts one indulged in were not permitted to be spoken of in society.[27]

### Post-decriminalization (1858–1900s)[edit]

By the late 19th century, homosexual contact started to decline and the focus of desire turned to young girls. Ahmed Cevdet Pasha stated: "Woman-lovers have increased in number, while boy-beloveds have decreased. It is as if the People of Lot have been swallowed by the earth. The love and affinity that were, in Istanbul, notoriously and customarily directed towards young men have now been redirected towards girls, in accordance with the state of nature."[23] However, in 1913 Albert Howe Lybyer wrote that "the vice which takes its name from Sodom was very prevalent among the Ottomans, especially among those in high positions".[28]

Research shows that the decline is in close relationship to the criminalization of homosexuality in the Western world, which followed repression of the gender and sexual minorities.[23]

## Literature and art[edit]

An Ottoman miniature from the book Sawaqub al-Manaquib depicting sex between two men

Same-sex relationships were discussed in classical Ottoman literary culture up to the 19th century. However, with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire, homosexuality began to be understood in nineteenth-century Ottoman society as a deviant form of sexual expression.[29] In the West, homoerotic depictions of the Orient (including the Ottoman Empire) has been considered an aspect of literary Orientalism.[30]

The most preferred form of writing and poetry in classical culture was the gazel. During this time within the Ottoman Empire, it was very popular to write about affection/love for young boys in this kind of poetry. The gazel is not only written for the imaginary lover, but is also used to attract the lover's attention and to make yourself attractive to that lover. This can be seen not only in the poetry of famous poets, but it also appears in the tradition of Sufi literature. For example, Taşlıcalı Yahya states in his poems that he does not like the love of the opposite sex. According to him, male love is superior and purer than female love.[31] Saadi Shirazi's wrote in Bustan of "a certain lad some days ago my heart did steal away",[32] and the work of İsa Necati talks of male "beauties" looking like Jacob.[33] There was a long-standing belief that these poems were pederastic, but variations from this norm existed, including relationships between post-pubescent males of similar ages, or of younger males taking on the insertive role in anal intercourse, although this was considered to be more unusual.[34]

One of the most famous gay writers in the Ottoman Empire is Enderûnlu Fâzıl. Fazıl has five books that have survived: Defter-i Aşk, Hubanname, Zenanname, Çenginame and Divan. In Defter-i Aşk, he tells about his own (homosexual) love life. Another book of him is the book Hubanname which talks about the beauty of men from different nations of the world. In the book Zenanname the beauty of women of different nationalities is described. In another book of Fazıl Bey the book Çenginame, the famous male dancers of Istanbul are described.[35][36][37]

Homosexuality in the Ottoman Empire is not only between men. Although less visible than between men, sexuality between women has also been the subject of poetry. In the poems of female poets it is usually not clear whether the lover is a woman or a man. In the poems of Mihri Hatun, a highly educated unmarried female poet, it is alleged she pretends to be a man in love with a woman in order to express her own love for women.[38][39]

Some poets focus only on the love between women, some only on love between men, and some on both. There was a great literary debate among poets whether the most beautiful form of love is female love or male love.[29]

Nev'îzâde Atâyî [tr]'s manuscript Hamse, which contains several accounts of moral tales with the final chapter detailing a tale of same-sex male lovers.

Nev'îzâde Atâyî [tr] was an Ottoman poet of the 18th century who wrote manuscripts detailing stories of same-sex relationships. The poems in his manuscript Hamse, detail stories featuring parties inside the Imperial Council, social values of the century, moral and ethical codes, and same sex relationships. It is in the fourth part of Hamse where the story follows two young men and their travels around Istanbul. As the two young male characters are traveling by sea to Egypt, they are captured and enslaved by European soldiers. While they are enslaved, the European kidnappers fall in love with their prisoners.[40]

## Western perceptions[edit]

As well as male homosexuality, Westerners also made assertions of lesbian sexual practices in Ottoman seraglios, or harems.[41] This was in part due to Western perceptions of the Ottomans as being prone to sexual perversion, but was also borne from criticism of gender segregation in Ottoman society, with many aspects of same-sex activity being attributed to situational homosexuality.[42]

The Ottoman official Mehmet Cemaleddin Efendi was offered male prostitutes while on his stay in Paris between 1803 and 1806 by his hosts, who thought that being Turkish, he would be interested. This discomfited Efendi, who argued that the streets of Paris had "1500 boys exclusively occupied in sodomy" with their availability and prices advertised on printed cards, was far more blatant in France than anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.[17] This perception altered societal norms and attitudes (including the presentation of same-sex desire in literature) as the Ottoman Empire sought to become more Western.[42]

## See also[edit]

* LGBT portal

* History of human sexuality
* LGBT rights in Turkey

## References[edit]

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2. ^ "Balancing Sharia: The Ottoman Kanun". BBC. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
3. ^ De Groot, A.H., 2010. 6. The Historical Development of the Capitulatory Regime in the Ottoman Middle East from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century. In The Netherlands and Turkey (pp. 95-128). Gorgias Press.
4. ^ Quoted in Murray & Roscoe 1997, pp. 14–15
5. ^ a b Arvas 2014, p. 8.
6. ^ Bardakçı, Murat (2006-08-27). "'Gay'ler eskiden esnaftan sayılır ve padişahın huzurunda yapılan resmigeçitlere bile katılırlardı" [In the past, gay people were considered tradesmen and even participated in official parades held in the presence of the sultan.]. Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-11-19.
7. ^ a b c Elif, Yılmazlı (Spring 2020). "Osmanlı'da HomoSosyal Mekânlar ve Cinsel Yönelimler" [Homosocial Places and Sexual Orientations In the Ottoman Empire] (PDF). Eğitim Bilim Toplum. 18 (70): 38–63. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
8. ^ Kayaal 2020, p. 34.
9. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, p. 7.
10. ^ a b Prof. Ş. Şehvar Beşiroğlu. "Music, Identity, Gender: Çengis, Köçeks, Çöçeks". ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory, Musicology Department. Academia.edu.
11. ^ Stavros Stavrou Karayanni (2006). Dancing Fear & Desire: Race, Sexuality and Imperial Politics in Middle Eastern Dance. WLU Press. pp. 78, 82–83. ISBN 088920926X.
12. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, p. 32.
13. ^ Avcı, Mustafa (13 September 2018). "Osmanlı Hukukunda Livatanın Cezası". Selçuk Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi. 26 (2): 15–45. doi:10.15337/suhfd.447248.
14. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, pp. 8, 68–69.
15. ^ Murray 2007, pp. 15, 103.
16. ^ Dunne, Bruce W. (1990). "Homosexuality in the Middle East: An Agenda for Historical Research". Arab Studies Quarterly. 12 (3/4): 72. ISSN 0271-3519.
17. ^ a b Murray 2007, p. 104.
18. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, p. 32-25.
19. ^ a b c Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab (2008) [1975]. Sexuality in Islam. Routledge. p. 167\. ISBN 9781135030377.
20. ^ Hayes, Jarrod (2000). Queer Nations: Marginal Sexualities in the Maghreb. University of Chicago Press. p. 206\. ISBN 978-0-226-32105-9.
21. ^ Pasin, Burkay (2016). "A Critical Reading Of The Ottoman-Turkish Hammam As A Representational Space Of Sexuality". METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture. 33 (2).
22. ^ Germen, Baran (March 1, 2015). "Of Parks and Hamams: Queer Heterotopias in the Age of Neoliberal Modernity and the Gay Citizen". Intersectional Perspectives: Identity, Culture, and Society. 5 (1): 111–137. doi:10.18573/ipics.76. ISSN 2752-3497. S2CID 242117795.
23. ^ a b c Schick, İrvin Cemil. "What Ottoman erotica teaches us about sexual pluralism". Aeon. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
24. ^ El-Rouayheb, Khaled (2009). Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800. University of Chicago Press. p. 151\. ISBN 978-0-226-72990-9.
25. ^ Strachey Bucknill, John A.; Apisoghom S. Utidjian, Haig (1913). "The Imperial Ottoman Penal Code". The Turkish Text. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, Amen Corner, London, E.C.
26. ^ Ozsoy, Elif Ceylan (2021). "Decolonizing Decriminalization Analyses: Did the Ottomans Decriminalize Homosexuality in 1858?". Journal of Homosexuality. 68 (12): 1979–2002. doi:10.1080/00918369.2020.1715142. hdl:10871/120331. PMID 32069182. S2CID 211191107.
27. ^ Murray 2007, pp. 101–16.
28. ^ Quoted in , Murray & Roscoe 1997, p. 176
29. ^ a b Arvas 2014, p. 145.
30. ^ Boone, Joseph A. (2014-03-25). The Homoerotics of Orientalism. Columbia University Press. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-0-231-52182-6.
31. ^ Arvas 2014, pp. 149–154.
32. ^ Morals Pointed and Tales Adorned: The Båuståan of Sa°dåi. Brill Archive. 1974. p. 116\. ISBN 978-90-04-00500-6. Murray & Roscoe 1997, pp. 132–135
33. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, pp. 132–135.
34. ^ Murray & Roscoe 1997, pp. 22–23, 33–34.
35. ^ Bardakçı, Murat (1993). Osmanlı'da seks: sarayda gece dersleri [Sex in the Ottoman Empire: Night lessons in the palace] (2. bsk ed.). İstanbul: Gür Yayınları. ISBN 975-7823-02-3.
36. ^ Sharma, Sunil (17 November 2016). "The Ottoman Turkish Zenanname (ʻBook of Womenʼ)". Asian and African studies blog. British Library.
37. ^ "Boys, Boys, Boys: Enderunlu Fazıl Bey's Hubanname". Asian and African studies blog. British Library. 8 February 2021.
38. ^ Arvas 2014, p. 153.
39. ^ Havlioğlu, Didem (1 May 2010). "On the margins and between the lines: Ottoman women poets from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries" (PDF). Turkish Historical Review. 1 (1): 25–54. doi:10.1163/187754610X494969.
40. ^ Erdman, Michael (June 13, 2019). "Same-Sex Relations in an 18th century Ottoman Manuscript". Asian and African studies blog. British Library. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
41. ^ Murray 2007, p. 103.
42. ^ a b Arvas 2014, p. 146.

* Arvas, Abdulhamit (December 2014). "8". From the Pervert, Back to the Beloved: Homosexuality and Ottoman Literary History, 1453–1923. The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 145–159. ISBN 9781139547376.
* Kayaal, Tuğçe (2020). ""Twisted Desires," Boy-Lovers, and Male–Male Cross-Generational Sex in the Late Ottoman Empire (1912–1918)". Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques. 46: 31–46. doi:10.3167/hrrh.2020.460103. S2CID 226128832.
* Murray, Stephen O. (2007). "Homosexuality in The Ottoman Empire". Historical Reflections. 33 (1): 101–116.
* Murray, Stephen O.; Roscoe, Will (February 1, 1997). Islamic Homosexualities. New York University Press. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814761083.003.0004. ISBN 978-0-8147-6108-3.