Weaponizing Sexual Identities: Homosexuality as Public Scandal in interwar Romania

Abstract

The present paper intends to provide a preliminary analysis of the social status of the homosexual minority in interwar Romania, applying the theoretical framework of „symbolic violence” defined by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu on the case study represented by the „Credința” press scandal from 1934-1935. The scandal opposed director Sandu Tudor and the editorial staff of „Credința” newspaper on the one hand, and Petru Comarnescu, Al.Chr. Tell, Mircea Vulcănescu and Gabriel Negry (members of the Criterion Association), on the other hand. The novelty of this study consists in integrating the press scandal into the broader scheme of social and economic interactions between different agents from the social field, emphasising their competition for symbolic capital which would legitimise them in defining the nation. The study reached the preliminary conclusions that homosexuality was a cultural identity instrumentalised and then weaponised in order to gain public legitimacy and that attributing sexual meanings to a minority was produced by groups which arrogated themselves the monopoly of moral normativity.