Queens Gardens, 1949: The Anxious Spaces of Postwar New Zealand Masculinity

Abstract

One evening in 1949, five met men on the steps of the Cenotaph in Queens Gardens in Dunedin, New Zealand. Two were under arrest by the end of the night, charged with indecently assaulting the others. This article explores these five men's sexual encounters, the space in which these took place, and the meanings given to both. These particular relationships take place in relation to wider global patterns of masculine spatiality and the post-war emergence of new sexual categories. The article suggests that men's intimate and sexual lives have been highly contested within the sexualized spaces of the city.