He thought so too.

? Love of men and boys?

paultry: What was the norm was sex between a grown man and a teenage boy. The older man would have a wife and children, probably, and the adolescent boy would too, later in his life. These relationships existed in two different realms. The boy was supposed to not give himself away too easily and to get something in return, be it money, status, education. Also, there were unices, and men sometimes had sex with them. But the modern concept of two adult, male-identified and non-altered men having relationships with each other, that was pretty new. I mean, I'm sure that plenty of people had done it, but it had not been talked about much. Wilde was one of the first to become public about it, and to have it become associated with his world view, his clothing, personality and etc. And that is way in some ways he is considered to be the first modern homosexual. Before that, sex with the same sex was something that some people did. But it was not an identity, it was not considered to be something that some people are. Sodemite was not an identity, it just described somebody who did a particular thing, like a swimmer, etc.