You all are scaring me a little because I have NO idea what you all are talking about.
I think I'm too stupid for this thread. 
Maybe if I reread it another 100 times I'll understand it a little. 
... 
Naaah don't be put off MR is a fantastic read and TLOTW is an excellent book. Kerry is answering very fully my question about homosexuality and exactly what that means in terms of the culture and times in which MR set these stories. My point is, just to provoke debate, is that MR never created a character that we in todays society, would term as wholly Gay (considersing she was gay herself) - there was always the "get out clause" of this is the culture of the times etc. I think this was because she may have feared a backlash from modern society at the time of publishing. Bagoas (The Persian Boy), who was mentioned earlier was a captured prince and was castrated as a youth just entering puberty. He had very little choice about how to gain sexual pleasure he was "created" as a sex slave by the act of capture and castration so he has an "excuse".
My point of debate is - do we think MR was avoiding creating a "gay" character even though all her books use homosexuality as a key theme. Might be a bit too soon to debate this, lets see what people think as the progress further through TLOTW
Enjoy it, I certainly did.
