The Curious Case of M. Butterfly

The Curious Case of M. Butterfly Some hoaxes are accidental and may take on independent life if a misinterpreted act or prank roils out of control. In the curious case of the real-life M. Butterfly (a lurid tale of transgender love, intrigue, and... More

The Curious Case of M. Butterfly Some hoaxes are accidental and may take on independent life if a misinterpreted act or prank roils out of control. In the curious case of the real-life M. Butterfly (a lurid tale of transgender love, intrigue, and espionage) the deception perhaps began artlessly but turned deliberately deceitful. In the end a civil servant's reputation (because of his own unwillingness to accept truths about himself and about someone close to him) lay ruined, and an elaborately malicious imposture went unpunished. He/She Homosexuality today (when compared with much of recorded history) is generally tolerated and does not carry the stigma it once did. In the early 1960s, however, being known as a "Nancy boy" or "sissy" (in the vernacular of the day) could ruin one's career; in some more extreme cases imprisonment was possible (up until the late 1970s many states in the US carried such "sodomy" laws, punishing with incarceration same-sex intimate relations). Closeted Less