Introduction

Abstract

Abstract Oscar Wilde, the master of paradox, once intoned, “I adore the simple pleasures, they are the last refuge of the complex. “1 Unfortunately, sexual pleasure, as Wilde discovered, is seldom simple. In many ways, Wilde is emblematic of the vagaries of sexual politics, having been disgraced and jailed for his homosexuality. What started as a simple (but brazen) libel trial-initiated by Wilde against the Marquis of Queensbury for claiming that Wilde was “posing as a sodomite” and thereby adversely influencing his son, Lord Alfred Douglas-ultimately backfired against Wilde when evidence obtained from previous lovers irrefutably demonstrated that he was, in fact, a “sodomite.“