"Unnatural Fornication" Cases Under State-Socialism: A Hungarian-Slovenian Comparative Social-Historical Approach

• Published in: Journal of homosexuality Vol. 64; no. 14; pp. 1943 - 1960
• Main Authors: Takács, Judit, Kuhar, Roman, Tóth, Tamás P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 01-01-2017; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Archive research; Archives & records; Body politics; Collective representation; court cases; Courts; Defendants; History, 20th Century; Homosexuality; Homosexuality, Male - history; Humans; Hungary; Judiciary; Local politics; Male; Men; Police; Politics; Population Surveillance; Sex Offenses - history; Sex Offenses - legislation & jurisprudence; Slovenia; Social control; Socialism; Socialism - history; state-socialism; Surveillance; unnatural fornication; Yugoslavia; Hungary; Slovenia; homosexuality; Hungary; court cases; Archive research; Slovenia; state-socialism; unnatural fornication
• ISSN: 0091-8369; 1540-3602
• DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2016.1273719

This comparative social-historical study examines different versions of state-socialist body politics manifested in Hungary and Slovenia mainly during the 1950s by using archive material of "unnatural fornication" court cases. By analyzing the available Hungarian "természet elleni fajtalanság" and Slovenian "nenaravno občevanje" court cases, we can shed light on how the defendants were treated by the police and the judiciary. On the basis of these archive data that have never been examined before from these angles, we can construct an at least partial picture of the practices and consequences of state surveillance of same-sex-attracted men during state-socialism. The article explores the functioning of state-socialist social control mechanisms directed at nonnormative sexualities that had long-lasting consequences on the social representation of homosexuality in both countries.