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23 - Toronto the Good, Toronto the Gay: Sex and Morality in the Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2024

By
Tom Hooper
Edited by
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks  and
Mathew Kuefler
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Mathew Kuefler
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
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Summary

Two differing ideas characterized the city of Toronto throughout the twentieth century. The first, Toronto the Good, represented the aspirations of religious leaders, reformers, politicians, and police officers to create a city modelled after Christian morality. Sexuality was meant to be expressed in the confines of the private, monogamous, heteronormative family home. Sex was for procreation, not pleasure. Contrary to Toronto the Good was a second idea, Toronto the Gay, a 1950s tabloid reference to the variety of spaces available for sexual exploration and desire. Sex work, queer sex, interracial marriage, divorce, birth control, and abortion endured despite intense enforcement of sexual morality. This chapter explores the tensions between the idealism of Toronto the Good and the sexual opportunities of Toronto the Gay.

Keywords

TorontoCanadapolicemoral reformindecencypublic sexsex workabortionmarriagedivorce
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 487 - 507
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

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