Cruising twelfth-century pilgrims

When taken together, the Moissac Luxuria, a miracle story from the Book of St. James, and the twelfth-century pilgrims who experienced them seem to show that sexual energy and an instability of gender characterized certain encounters among male pilgrims. I believe that this influenced what people saw when they looked at the Luxuria, and I try to situate this thesis in the context of Lesbian and Gay Studies. At the outset I adopt a "performative" view of homosexual relationships, and I close by relating the word "cruising" to the structural homology between myself and the people I study.