Henning Bech: Evil in Denmark
During the late 19th century, the homosexual emerged as a special sociocultural creation. Since then, he and she have played a significant role as incarnations of evil in the symbolic universes of the modern West. From the 1980s, changes occur, although with various impact in different countries. In Denmark, major groups now live in ways similar to those hitherto considered characteristic of the homosexuals, e.g. in relation to gender performance or sexual mores. Consequently, the homosexual is in the process of vanishing as a popular incarnation of evil. Sexual preference is increasingly experienced in terms of taste. New symbolic incarnations of evil appear, who are experienced as threats to the ways and norms of life in late modern Danish society, among them “Moslem immigrants”. The changes are investigated through analyses of fresh qualitative and quantitative data.
