[AuntiePam]

I'm reading The Absolutist by John Boyne. It's 1916, we're in an army barracks in England. A gay character immediately recognizes that another character is gay, even though the 19 other men in his troop don't have a clue.

I assume that this might be because in 1916, homosexuality was considered to be a perversion, and most people will assume they don't know any perverts. Is this a reasonable assumption?

Another random thought is that (from my reading of this and other books set in that general time period) it was natural for gay men and women to spend a lot of time together -- even live together -- without anyone assuming they were gay. This was in a time when homosexuality was persecuted, at least socially if not criminally.

It's interesting to me that apparently, in the old days, nobody paid much attention to sexual orientation. (Unless you were gay and needed to hide that fact, of course.)

And yet another random thought is that in a time when men and women were more touchy-feely (per books I've read set in that time period), it had to be difficult for a gay man or woman to know whether that kiss on the lips was sexual or just friendly.