Abstract

The classical American stag film, a body of clandestine short pornographic films produced during the first two-thirds of the 20th century, has received scholarly attention in several quarters, first from heterosexual male scribes and beneficiaries of the `sexual revolution', and more recently by feminist and queer cultural historians. The present article pursues this study by developing the concept of homosociality in relation to the stag film corpus, both its contextual and textual aspects, and demonstrating its inextricable engagement in the social and specular relations along the continuum of masculinity within American culture. In conclusion, the author compares the stags to another quasi-underground corpus of short erotic films, mail order homoerotic `physique' films of the post-war period, and discovers unexpected parallels and dialogue between the two corpuses at the onset of the `sexual revolution'.