This article contributes to a reassessment of gay liberation by focusing on how matters of sex and desire featured in the gay press and the gay movement in 1970s West Germany. Gay liberation has often been viewed through an affirmative lens, contrasted favourably with the supposed shame-filled conformism of the post-war homophile movement. I problematize this perspective by analysing ambivalence about homosexual desire and gay (male) sexual practice, both in the pages of the commercial gay press and in gay activist publications. Using case studies of intergenerational desire – or ‘paedophilia’ – and sado-masochism, I will question the extent to which the 1970s saw a transition towards the ideal of mutual, reciprocal relationships. In so doing, I argue that historians of homosexual politics should not only analyse questions of ideology and strategy but also sex, desire and ambivalence about self and society. Concluding through a consideration of the interrelationship between ‘pride’ and ‘shame’, this article shows that gay liberation was anything but a mere hedonistic interlude.

中文翻译：

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性、耻辱和西德同性恋解放

本文通过关注 1970 年代西德的同性恋新闻和同性恋运动中的性和欲望问题，有助于重新评估同性恋解放。同性恋解放经常被以肯定的眼光看待，这与战后同性恋运动被认为充满耻辱的墨守成规形成了鲜明的对比。我通过分析商业同性恋媒体和同性恋活动家出版物中关于同性恋欲望和同性恋（男性）性行为的矛盾心理来质疑这个观点。通过对代际欲望——或“恋童癖”——和施虐受虐狂的案例研究，我将质疑 1970 年代在多大程度上看到了向相互、互惠关系的理想转变。这样做时，我认为同性恋政治的历史学家不仅应该分析意识形态和策略的问题，还应该分析关于自我和社会的性、欲望和矛盾心理。通过对“骄傲”和“羞耻”之间相互关系的考虑，本文表明同性恋解放绝不仅仅是一个享乐主义的插曲。