History, as they say, is written by the victors.
When we look back at the past we are reliant on the written records of the period and upon later interpretations of these by people whose views are colored by the times in which they live and their own personal agendas.
Case in point - This apology issued by Gordon Brown to Alan Turing which I learned about from this post by DPF.
DPF writes
Right from the get go this story seems implausible to me. I do not think this really happened. I have spent some time in the library doing literature searches to try and verify any aspect of this sorry tale and can find no supporting documentation what-so-ever.
Were gays treated with oestrogen or any other hormone in 1952? The only indication that they were is the Alan Turing tale - nothing else and that is circular we are trying to verify the plausibility of the Alan Turing story. And if "hormone therapy" was not a common treatment for gays at that time, in fact there is no record that anybody had even considered it, how can we seriously believe an English judge or magistrate ordered someone to undergo it?
The earliest reference to this story I can find is a 1983 book - Alan Turing: The Enigma written by Mathematician and Gay activist Andrew Hodges.
The story has grown and become more lurid in subsequent publications and now with Gordon Brown's apology it has become indisputable fact apparently.
But that doesn't mean it actually happened - in fact on the balance of probabilities it almost certainly didn't.
When we look back at the past we are reliant on the written records of the period and upon later interpretations of these by people whose views are colored by the times in which they live and their own personal agendas.
Case in point - This apology issued by Gordon Brown to Alan Turing which I learned about from this post by DPF.
DPF writes
What I did not know is that Turing was gay, and he was effectively castrated in 1952 for being gay. Turing had a brief consensual relationship with an Arnold Murray, who then broke into his house with an accomplice and robbed it. The Police investigated and when the homosexual relationship between Turing and Murray became evident, charged Turing with gross indecency.
He was convicted and given a choice between imprisonment, or chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections. Two years later he killed himself.
Right from the get go this story seems implausible to me. I do not think this really happened. I have spent some time in the library doing literature searches to try and verify any aspect of this sorry tale and can find no supporting documentation what-so-ever.
Were gays treated with oestrogen or any other hormone in 1952? The only indication that they were is the Alan Turing tale - nothing else and that is circular we are trying to verify the plausibility of the Alan Turing story. And if "hormone therapy" was not a common treatment for gays at that time, in fact there is no record that anybody had even considered it, how can we seriously believe an English judge or magistrate ordered someone to undergo it?
The earliest reference to this story I can find is a 1983 book - Alan Turing: The Enigma written by Mathematician and Gay activist Andrew Hodges.
The story has grown and become more lurid in subsequent publications and now with Gordon Brown's apology it has become indisputable fact apparently.
But that doesn't mean it actually happened - in fact on the balance of probabilities it almost certainly didn't.