Thomas K. Hubbard is an American historian who has written about the topic of

homosexuality in Ancient Greece In classical antiquity, writers such as Herodotus, Plato, Xenophon, Athenaeus and many others explored aspects of homosexuality in Greek society. Among some elite circles this often took the form of pederasty, involving an adult man with an ado ...

. He served as a professor at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

(UT) for over 30 years and worked as chair at the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA), is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the pree ...

's Placement Committee. Hubbard's 1998 article titled ''Popular Perceptions of elitist Homosexuality in Classical Athens'' became influential among critics of the

phallocentric Phallocentrism is the ideology that the phallus, or male sexual organ, is the central element in the organization of the social world. Phallocentrism has been analyzed in literary criticism, psychoanalysis and psychology, linguistics, medicine and ...

paradigm of homosexuality in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, promoted by

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

and

Kenneth Dover Sir Kenneth James Dover, (11 March 1920 – 7 March 2010) was a distinguished British classical scholar and academic. He was president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1976 to 1986. In addition, he was president of the British Academy f ...

, according to which the male act of sexual penetration was seen as an assertion of dominance over women, boys and other men, as opposed to a more pure manifestation of sexual desire. He is also the author of the book ''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents'' (2003).

Career

Early years

Hubbard has had a relatively conservative approach regarding queer issues. In the 1990s, while LGBT activist groups called for the American Philological Association (APA) not to hold meetings in places where

sodomy laws A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term ''sodomy'' are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood and defined by many courts and jurisdictions to include any o ...

against gays and lesbians were active, Hubbard wrote a letter to the APA Newsletter denouncing the suggestion. Years later, when APA Committee member John Rundin suggested that the APA should encourage its hiring institutions to disclose if they offered domestic partner benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees, Hubbard, then serving as chair in the APA's Placement Committee, campaigned against Rundin's suggestions.

Academic works

''The Pipes of Pan: Intertextuality and Literary Filiation in the Pastoral Tradition from Theocritus to Milton'' (1998)

''The mask of comedy : Aristophanes and the intertextual parabasis'' (1991)

''Greek Love Reconsidered'' (editor: 2000)

''Popular Perceptions of elitist Homosexuality in Classical Athens'' (1998)

Hubbard's article titled ''Popular Perceptions of elitist Homosexuality in Classical Athens'' (1998) became very influential among critics of the

paradigm of Ancient Greek pederasty promoted by

and

(in which men engaged in homosexual sex not just for pleasure, but to assert dominance over women and other males). The article was criticized most notably by researchers

Andrew Lear Andrew Lear (born December 21, 1958) is an American author, Classicist, historian of gender and sexuality, and public historian. His academic research focuses on concepts of gender and sexuality in ancient Greek poetry and art. His book on male-m ...

and Julia Shapiro, though both critics agreed with Hubbard in that homosexual sex was never seen by Ancient Greeks as always unquestionably good and moral, and that such acts were often subjects of debate in Greek history.

''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome'' (2003)

In 2003, Hubbard published a book titled ''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents''. In the book, he compiles "in as complete a form as is possible" a selection of English-language excerpts concerning homosexuality in Ancient Greece and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

from the period between

Archaic Greece Archaic Greece was the period in History of Greece, Greek history lasting from to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical Greece, Classical period. In the archaic period, the ...

and the Greco-Roman age, with the exclusion of sources written under Christian influence. In the book, Hubbard does not make any distinction between

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

and

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

, which is commonly made among feminists and gender theorists. He does, however, use the word "homosexuality" throughout the book, since he believes that sexual identity is transhistorical and the word conveniently links together a range of different phenomena relating to same-sex activities.

''Censoring Sex Research: The Debate over Male Intergenerational Relations'' (editor with Beert Verstraete: 2013)

Responses from twelve scholars that argue for or against the conclusions of the academic paper involved in the

Rind et al. controversy The Rind ''et al''. controversy was a debate in the scientific literature, public media, and government legislatures in the United States regarding a 1998 peer reviewed meta-analysis of the self-reported harm caused by child sexual abuse (CSA). ...

University of Texas controversy

In 2020, while he was serving as a professor at the

, Hubbard was accused by a group of UT students of defending sexual relationships between adults and minors in his lectures and publications. After students campaigned for his removal, Hubbard's house in Austin was vandalized. He filed multiple

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuits against his accusers. In one of the lawsuits, Hubbard accused the Popular Women's Movement of having sprayed a graffiti on his door. Prior to the controversy, Hubbard had served at the UT for over 30 years and had received no complaints sexual misconduct. Hubbard brought claims of employment discrimination against the University of Texas, and in 2021 received a substantial settlement, which required him to retire, and withdraw his suits. One of the students Hubbard had sued, Sarah Blakemore, daughter of Republican political consultant Allen Blakemore, then filed a motion to sanction Hubbard for bringing frivolous claims. However, a court dismissed her case, finding that Hubbard's suit was not brought in bad faith, or for improper purposes, or was frivolous, and further ordered that the cause of action be removed from the docket. Subsequently, Texas Republican Senator

Paul Bettencourt Paul David Bettencourt (born October 20, 1958) is an American politician and businessman based out of Houston, Texas, who serves as a Republican member of the Texas State Senate from District 7. On January 13, 2015, he succeeded state Senator Da ...

, whom Allen Blakemore had worked for, filed a bill in the Texas Legislature that would allow a public college or university to revoke a faculty member’s tenure if they filed a civil lawsuit against a student. Questioned by a reporter, Bettencourt denied that the bill was written as a favor to Allen, calling the suggestion "hogwash".Kate McGee, 'Texas lawmakers consider limiting tenure after UT-Austin professor sued students over accusations of promoting pedophilia', The Texas Tribune, 16 April 2021

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Thomas Living people American historians Historians of ancient Greece Year of birth missing (living people)