Date of Award

5-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Maria John

Second Advisor

Kelly Colvin

Third Advisor

Nicholas Juravich

Abstract

“Petals and Pride” examines the historical use of flowers as enduring symbols of queer expression and persecution across diverse cultures and time periods, paying particular attention to violets, green carnations, roses, lilies, pansies, and lavender. This study begins with the appearance of violets in the works of the Ancient Greek poet Sappho and traces their adoption by the lesbian community of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Around this same time, another floral symbol emerged across the English Channel: the green carnation. Popularized by Oscar Wilde, the green carnation functioned in Victorian Britain as an emblem of sexuality and as an act of defiance against prevailing social norms. This thesis also shows that the potency of floral symbolism was not limited to the West. In 1960s Japan, for example, roses became associated with gay male identity through the publication of the first commercially circulated gay magazine, Barazoku (“rose tribe”), while lilies carried parallel significance within lesbian cultural expression through the development of yuri media.

While many floral symbols held positive connotations as subcultural forms of expression or identification, others were weaponized by the heteronormative mainstream as tools of alienation and persecution. In twentieth-century America, the terms “pansy” and “lavender” circulated widely as derogatory labels for queer people, shaped by moments such as the so-called “Pansy Craze” of the 1930s, when public queer spaces became objects of fascination and ridicule, and the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, when homosexuality was framed as a political and national security threat within the federal government. This study concludes by examining the reclamation of these derogatory labels by queer activists, including the formation of the Lavender Menace in 1970.

Across its chapters, this thesis traces how specific flowers acquired distinct queer meanings within their historical and cultural settings, functioning variously as symbols of remembrance, coded identity, visibility, persecution, and reclamation. By analyzing the shifting significance of these botanical emblems across diverse contexts, “Petals and Pride” demonstrates how flowers have operated both as complex expressions of identity as well as instruments of persecution, reflecting the resilience and adaptability of queer communities in response to systemic repression.

Comments

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