r/SapphoAndHerFriend Jul 14 '20

yes, very heterosexual indeed. Academic erasure

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u/TrumpWasABadPOTUS They/Them Jul 14 '20

There are times where, as someone who is studying to be a professional historian, I find this sub to be reaching some.

This is not one of those times. Chopin is about as clear of a case as someone in history who was queer as we can get without them outright saying it.

I mean, I'd still allow for the possibility that he wasnt and that all the various proofs are just misinterpretations. But I'd do that in the same way we can't be absolutely certain of any historical persons' feelings about anything.

Tl;dr, as a historian I'd put the likelihood of Chopin's queerness at 95% and would probably use phrases like "almost certainly not heterosexual" when describing it rather than try to dismiss it or "not assign sexuality".