Of Mollies and Men

The eighteenth century represents an interesting period for the emerging lgbtqa+ community. Of course, even modern events would indicate that this could not have been an enjoyable time to live as a non-heteronormative person, and yet it was a time in which the West saw a surge in the growth of homosexual communities from the Netherlands to England (McKay 581). Just as the growing desire for civil protections and individual liberties are percolating in France, the gay communities seem to undergo their own unification and transformation. This takes place primarily in the form of the infamous molly clubs.

            As early as 1709, records of these underground gatherings can be found (Rictor, The Mollies Club). An account by English journalist Ned Ward details some of the more fantastical practices of the “mollies” in their infamous lying-in ceremony. He describes how the men convene in one of the participant’s houses dressed in drag. While the crowd idles about and engages in idle “women’s frivolity”, the main molly of the evening prepares to endure a mock birth. All of their fellows proceed to gather around and offer laughs and encouragement until the doll is delivered and the “mother and father” congratulated (Rictor, The Mollies Club). This was most likely among some of the more wild events on the mollies calendar, but it was one for which they were harshly condemned. Ceremonies such as this echoed the growing effeminacy portrayed by the emboldened members of these secret clubs.

            Indeed many texts of the era speak out specifically about the endangered masculinity of Europe’s youth, and some go so far as to point into antiquity to Socrates and others as sources of the moral corruption (Rictor, Immoralitt of the Ancient Philosophers). Most critiques strike down heavily on the effeminate characteristics that began to present in and dominate the quickly growing molly clubs. A concerned citizen writes, “I am sorry [p. 10] to say, that in England there are as many of this abominable Sect, as any where in the World. Besides several Clubs and Assemblies of these Wretches that are publickly known, there are many private Ones, where Effeminacy revels in all its Impurity of filthy Vice and detestable Practices: Nor is there a public Place, but something of this Nature shews itself with the most shocking Aspect.” (Rictor, The Plague of Effeminacy). While he appears alarmed at everything, his chief concern is the femininity displayed in the “private ones” as he puts it. The writer’s frank acknowledgment of public clubs and a well-known subculture shows just what a presence the lgbtqa+ community was gaining and maintaining by the earliest 1700s. Their presence and the pushback against it would only continue to grow as the century progressed.

Citations:

McKay, John P., et al. A History of Western Societies. 12^th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 581.

Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Immoralitt of the Ancient Philosophers, 1735", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 28 April 2007 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/philoso.htm>.

Rictor Norton, Ed., "The Mollies Club, 1709-10", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 Dec. 1999, updated 16 June 2008 <http://www.rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/nedward.htm>.

Rictor Norton (Ed.), "The Plague of Effeminacy, 1757", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 26 February 2003 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/plagues.htm>.