I now pronounce you Dwarf & Hobbit...oops!

[davem]

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

Well, I am sure that I could if I put my mind to it.

But let me correct your statement of the point.

Homosexuality naturally occurs within the human race and therefore must exist in M-e, but is no more relevant to the story than going to the lavatory, and that that is why Tolkien had no need to mention it.

But we're not dealing with a historical novel, let alone a history book. Tolkien has invented every race & culture in his secondary world. Hence, the question is not whether homosexuality occurs within the human race in the primary world, but whether Tolkien took that aspect of humanity over into his secondary world. If he can create a world peopled with Elves, Dwarves, Ents, Orcs & 'gods', filled with magical communication devices, enchnated objects, Rings of Power, he can also decide that the inhabitanst of that world are exclusively heterosexual.

To argue that 'homosexuality occurs within the human race in the primary world, therefore it must occur among humans in the secondary world' is equivalent to arguing that because Ents exist in the secondary world they must also exist in the primary world'.

Again, where in any of Tolkiens' M-e writings is there a relationship that could be interpreted as having a homosexual/lesbian aspect?

This article is quite interesting, & shows that Tolkien did actually put a good deal of thought into sex in M-e
http://www.ansereg.com/what_tolkien_...y_said_abo.htm

What seems clear is that Tolkien focussed entirely on hetrosexual sex. Its possible homosexuality existed in M-e (its also possible Ents juggled ferrets professionally) but we have absolutely no indication that Tolkien considered it to be an aspect of his world.

This is absolutely not (as far as I'm concerned) a 'moral' question.Its simply a question of whether 'X' existed in M-e. And the conclusion I come to is that there is no evidence that Tolkien 'imported' that aspect of the human into his world.