| Summary: | Ottoman lyrical poetry, while lacking distinct linguistic markers for gender, reveals widespread same-sex desire between males in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although translators have heterosexualized this poetry, they are clearly homoerotic in many cases. Members of monasteries, frequenters of coffeehouses, and certain types of public dancers were known to be involved in same-sex activity. Age and class differences often shaped the relationships between men, particularly those in the elite classes of the empire, about which the currently available information speaks most fully.
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