Criminally Queer

Book excerpt: This book provides a coherent history of criminal law and homosexuality in Scandinavia from 1842 to 1999, a period during which same-sex love was outlawed or subject to severe legal restrictions in the Scandinavian penal codes. This was the case in most countries in Northern Europe, but the book argues that the development in Scandinavia was different, partly determined by the structure of the welfare state. Five experienced scholars of the history of homosexuality describe how same-sex desire has been regulated in their respective countries during the past 160 years. With backgrounds in history, sociology, and gender studies, the contributors represent an interdisciplinary approach. Their contributions present for the first time a comprehensive history of homosexuality in Scandinavia. Among other things, it includes the most extensive study yet written in any language about Iceland's gay and lesbian history. Also for the first time, the book discusses in detail same-sex sexuality between women. Female homosexuality was outlawed in Eastern Scandinavia, but not in the Western parts of this region. It also analyzes the modern tendency to include lesbian women in the criminal aspect of the medicalization of homosexuality and the growing influence of medical discourse on the law. Jens Rydstrm is lecturer in history, particularly gender history, at Stockholm University (Sweden) and the author of Sinners and Citizens: Bestiality and Homosexuality in Sweden, 18801950. He is currently working on the history of laws on registered partnership in the Nordic countries. Kati Mustola is a research fellow at the Department of Sociology of the University of Helsinki (Finland). She is currently involved in research on the situation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people in the workplace. She also specializes in Finnish lesbian and gay history. She has edited several books in lesbian and gay studies and for many years was responsible for the teaching of lesbian studies at the Christina Institute for Women's Studies at the University of Helsinki.