At the risk of stating the obvious, homosexuality manifests in every human population and culture. Of course, most history has been documented by the heterosexual male majority so the role of women, gays and minorities are usually ignored. But that doesn't change the fact that the diversity of gay culture around the globe is as diverse as human culture today and throughout history. How sad that the rich and fascinating history of queers in so many cultures is mostly undocumented, repressed and pretty much ignored in these United States.

On a quest for some background information on a totally unrelated topic, Google, as often happens, landed me in a surprising place: the world of Turkish male belly dancing.

In February 2000, the Associated Press reported that the Turkish police rescued a 19-year-old man whose father had chained him to a bed for three days after discovering that his son was performing as a belly dancer.

Today, it is all the rage in Istanbul for nightclubs to feature young, handsome male belly dancers. They are called rakkas from the word raks, which means dance. They dress in sparkling costumes and perform nearly every night of the week.

But this is not at all the result of liberalization. It's actually a revival of an ancient Turkish tradition. The homophobic behavior of the above-mentioned father was very Western and contemporary, not Turkish at all.



Pictorial evidence in the form of Turkish miniatures made during the Ottoman Empire show public performances being done by young men and boys called Kochecks. These dancers were widely popular; in fact, the Sultan employed a troupe of these male dancers in addition to a troupe of female dancers.

These male belly dancers were so popular that fights often broke out over which troupe was considered the best. These upheavals were so frequent that they resulted in such performances being banned for a period of time during the 1830s. Eventually the ban was lifted, but the decline of the Ottoman Empire, together with a push for modernization and the adoption of western tastes led to the eventual decline of such performances in Istanbul as well as in other countries of the Empire such as Egypt. Eventually, due to tourist demand, their place was taken by female entertainers.

Today male belly dancers have returned and have even begun appearing on television variety shows and on DVDs throughout Turkey, Greece, Lebanon and Egypt.

The Ottoman Empire was an era that was named for a Muslim prince called Osman I. The golden age of the Empire was during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-66). The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1345 until 1922, when the sultanate was abolished and Turkey became a republic.

With the absence of females in Muslim social and entertainment life, Ottoman men developed a taste for beautiful male entertainers, generally known as rakkas. The male dancers could be either Muslim or non-Muslim. Historians say that there were two different kinds of rakkas: kocek and tavsan oglan.

The tavsan oglan (which means "rabbit boy") wore a charming hat and tight pants. The koceks often wore women's clothes and allowed their long, curly hair to flow freely. The dancing boys were organized into different companies of entertainers called kol. By the mid 1600's, there were said to be about 3000 of these dancers in twelve companies. They were young boys who were sensuous, attractive, effeminate, and carefully trained in music and dance. Their dancing was sexually provocative and impersonated female dancers. It incorporated ladylike walking, finger snapping (a special two-handed finger snap), slow belly movements, suggestive gestures, acrobatics, and playing wooden clappers called calpara or, in later times, metal cymbals called zils. The boys danced as long as they stayed good looking and could hide their beards. Centuries old Turkish literature includes many love poems written by Turkish men about various koceks.

The koceks profession went out of style in the 1800's during the era of Mahmut II. It was officially banned in 1856, forcing many of the koceks to emigrate to other countries such as Egypt.

Well, after reading this I know that you're dying to become a belly dancer. Good news! Strip and learn: