"I would certainly never suggest that any lesbian should be ashamed of her sexual preference"
About this Quote
For a sentence that sounds like allyship, it carries the nervous fingerprints of its era. “I would certainly never suggest” is a preemptive flinch: the speaker is already imagining the accusation he wants to dodge. The adverb “certainly” adds a courtroom sheen, as if the goal is plausible deniability rather than solidarity. It’s less a declaration than a defensive posture, designed to inoculate the author against charges of prejudice while leaving the surrounding moral order intact.
Then there’s the telling phrase “sexual preference.” Today it reads as politely wrong, a term that softens identity into choice and invites the old rebuttal: if it’s a preference, why not prefer differently? In mid-century American culture, that framing functioned as a kind of linguistic quarantine. You could acknowledge lesbians, even concede they shouldn’t be “ashamed,” but still keep them filed under behavior, not belonging. The sentence offers dignity, but only in the narrow lane of private feeling, not public legitimacy.
“Any lesbian” is doing work, too: it universalizes compassion while avoiding specifics - no mention of discrimination, violence, or legal risk. Shame becomes the central problem, conveniently internal and individual, rather than society’s ongoing project of producing it.
Given Hunter’s career writing mainstream fiction and screen material, the line feels like a calculated bridge to a broad audience: progressive enough to seem humane, cautious enough not to disturb the cultural consensus. It’s tolerance with the volume turned down, a statement that wants credit for empathy without paying the cost of commitment.
Then there’s the telling phrase “sexual preference.” Today it reads as politely wrong, a term that softens identity into choice and invites the old rebuttal: if it’s a preference, why not prefer differently? In mid-century American culture, that framing functioned as a kind of linguistic quarantine. You could acknowledge lesbians, even concede they shouldn’t be “ashamed,” but still keep them filed under behavior, not belonging. The sentence offers dignity, but only in the narrow lane of private feeling, not public legitimacy.
“Any lesbian” is doing work, too: it universalizes compassion while avoiding specifics - no mention of discrimination, violence, or legal risk. Shame becomes the central problem, conveniently internal and individual, rather than society’s ongoing project of producing it.
Given Hunter’s career writing mainstream fiction and screen material, the line feels like a calculated bridge to a broad audience: progressive enough to seem humane, cautious enough not to disturb the cultural consensus. It’s tolerance with the volume turned down, a statement that wants credit for empathy without paying the cost of commitment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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