The Male Dancer Archetype and The Historical Record (Patreon)

I’d like to talk about some of the research that’s gone into the world building for the book. Research is critical to writing a book like Scars of the Golden Dancer. For this discussion, I’ve included citations, should you the reader wish to read up on the topics I’m going to discuss. One of the things I’ve struggled with the most finding information about is the Köçek. Köçeks were male dancers who dressed in feminine clothing in the Ottoman empire.[1] This task would be easier if I read Arabic or Turkish so I could consult primary sources, but I’ve been able to gather enough information that has given me pause and made me decide I could not follow the historical record.

One of the protagonists of the novel, Zayn, is a dancer and prostitute. There are historical precedents for male dancers like Zayn with the Köçeks, and other male dancers throughout the middle east. Like Zayn, prostitution may have been a part of this profession also.[2][3]

There is also an issue of the age of consent that comes up when we look at what happened in the past through the lens of modern morals and values. Beardless boys were a fascination of Arab poets in the premodern era.[4] It is difficult to classify what people did that was not recorded, and while chaste love was part of this tradition, not all of was chaste. This activity was not universally embraced, but it is believed that pederasty was the primary form of homosexuality in the Arab world, or at least the only socially acceptable form.[5] It is certainly something that was written about in a positive light. It has been noted that Arab historians have shown discomfort with homosexuality and the literary legacy this practice has left behind.[6] Some modern gay writers in the west have certainly looked back on this legacy favorably and used it to help show the normalization of homosexual relationships throughout history, or at least cherry picked passages for their own needs.[7]

This also wasn’t just a feature of the Ottoman Empire and that era. Famed Arab poet Abū Nuwās al-Ḥasan ibn Hānī al-Ḥakam, Abū Nuwās wrote extensively on the topic of homosexual pederastic love through his wine songs.[8] Abū Nuwās died in 814 AD, long before the Ottoman Empire ever arose. Numerous other examples exist from the medieval era.[9][10]

That I made one of the primary characters in the novel a dancer brings me to a dangerous point. I will state this unequivocally, and clearly now, Zayn has always been of legal age, and the decision he takes to become a male prostitute is taken upon reaching and passing 18 years of age. In “Silk and Sword” which is Zayn’s origin story, we see his thinking behind taking up the oldest profession. While I did not state his age in the story, I feel it is important to note my intention on this. I’m not writing an underage character in a sexual situation of any kind, and that’s a hard line I will not cross.

History is full of horrible things if you look hard enough, and I will not replicate those for the sake of historical accuracy. Zayn as a character has been hit hard by life, but one of the themes of this book is healing. It’s important that what happens to Zayn are things he can overcome and I want him to be a character of hidden strength. I don’t have a precise period or location I’ve based the story in, so I feel making changes to the setting that allow modern readers to enjoy the story is a valid approach to the world building.

1. “Köçek,” accessed August 31, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocek.

2. Anthony Shay, “The Male Dancer in the Middle East and Central Asia,” Dance Research Journal 38 / 1 &2, (Summer-Winter 2006), 145-146

3. Khalied El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800, (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2005), 18

4. Khalied El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800, (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2005), 26-27.

5. Khalied El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800, (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2005), 16-21.

6. Khalied El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800, (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2005), 160.

7. Mitch Walker, Men Loving Men, A Gay Sex Guide & Consciousness Book, second edition, 1994, (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine, 1994), 88.

8. Abu Nuwas, Carousing with Gazelles, Homoerotic Songs of Old Baghdad, (Lincoln: iUniverse, 2005).

9. Mitch Walker, Men Loving Men, A Gay Sex Guide & Consciousness Book, second edition, 1994, (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine, 1994), 23-24.

10. J. W. Wright Jr. & Everette K. Rowson, Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997)