"Waiting for Uncle Ben": Age-Structured Homosexuality in New Zealand, 1920-1950

Abstract

Townsend met twelve-year-old David Potts in a public toilet in Christchurch, New Zealand. Townsend, a separated income tax clerk of forty-seven, recalled that Potts approached him, at which point Townsend asked “if he went with many men.” Potts volunteered that he met men in the toilets on Monday nights. According to Townsend,“He said he was waiting for 'Uncle Ben.'I said 'What is Uncle Ben going to do?'He replied 'What the other men do.'” 1 Needing no further clarification, the clerk asked Potts to accompany him home.