Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies - Volume 22, Issue 3, 2019

Abstract This article deals with the discriminatory age-of-consent provision for homosexual intercourse in the Dutch Penal Code. Between 1911 and 1971 this age limit was 21 years, while it was – and still is – 16 years for heterosexual intercourse. The withdrawal of this legal provision is one of the landmarks of the sexual revolution that took place in the Netherlands during the 1960s and the 1970s. In this contribution, I will anal Read More

Abstract In 1911, Dutch parliament changed and expanded the vice laws of the penal code. The most controversial change was the introduction of art. 248bis Sr., which created a specific age of consent (21) for homosexual contacts, while it remained 16 for heterosexual behaviour. According to Attorney General E.R.H. Regout, homosexuality was spreading rapidly, resulting from the seduction of minors between the age of 16 and Read More

Abstract As a result of a changing mentality in the 1980s in the Netherlands, the dismissal of workers because of their sexual orientation started to raise public indignation and contributed to the creation of lesbian/gay (later: LGBTI) groups in trade unions. Since then, discriminatory dismissals have become outlawed. These union groups, however, had and still have a broader agenda: inclusiveness in collective labour agreemen Read More

Abstract This year’s pride season marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, an event that, while not the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement in the United States, should at least be viewed as one of the first major milestones in the movement’s history. In the Netherlands, too, the history of LGBT activism has been commemorated in the recent exhibition ‘With Pride’, organised by IHLIA LGBT Heritage (see the r Read More