Summary of Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 To understand the history of the United States, you must understand the lives and cultures of the people who were here before the European colonists arrived. The Europeans came to the Americas with a rigorous sense of how gender and sexuality should be organized, and they attempted to eradicate non-European gender-normative customs through violence.

#2 The European invaders of America saw the gender norms and behaviors of the indigenous peoples as radically different from their own, even though these cultures were completely different from one another. The Europeans found the native peoples alarmingly innocent and dangerously sexual.

#3 The European colonization of America brought violence against all native people, not just those who violated European gender norms.

#4 The European Christian view was that people who did not adhere to Christian concepts of sexual behavior, gender affect, or modesty were less than human. They were like animals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822544871

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Insights on Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

To understand the history of the United States, you must understand the lives and cultures of the people who were here before the European colonists arrived. The Europeans came to the Americas with a rigorous sense of how gender and sexuality should be organized, and they attempted to eradicate non-European gender-normative customs through violence.

#2

The European invaders of America saw the gender norms and behaviors of the indigenous peoples as radically different from their own, even though these cultures were completely different from one another. The Europeans found the native peoples alarmingly innocent and dangerously sexual.

#3

The European colonization of America brought violence against all native people, not just those who violated European gender norms.

#4

The European Christian view was that people who did not adhere to Christian concepts of sexual behavior, gender affect, or modesty were less than human. They were like animals.

#5

The British colonies in the Americas were extremely successful, and their culture was shaped by their experiences in Great Britain before arriving in the New World. The Puritans’ view of the world and sexuality was shaped by these experiences.

#6

The Puritans, a group of religious dissenters who fled England in response to the Elizabethan era’s sexually permissive behavior, viewed the Roman Catholic Church as emblematic of the decadent sensibility they saw in England. They commonly referred to the Papacy as the painted whore of Babylon.

#7

There was a lot of sexual activity in the colonies, and many people were having sex with members of the opposite sex. Sodomy laws were used more often against same-sex coupling than opposite-sex coupling, and some men were punished for their sexual actions.

#8

The Puritans had fled Great Britain to secure religious freedom for themselves, not others. They never intended to establish a democracy. The family was central to