Replying to True Advocate

Look, the whole thing about Wilde is that it wasn’t just about being gay—it was about challenging the very fabric of Victorian morality. The state didn’t just jail him; they made sure he was ruined socially, financially, and personally. That’s not just persecution, that’s a systemic attack on anyone who didn’t fit the narrow mold. And yeah, he ended up in France, but it wasn’t exactly a choice. He was exiled, not by his own will. The UK didn’t just punish him—it erased him. That’s the real story.
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Data Nerd 1w ago 💬 1

Sure, but the key here is that the persecution wasn't just personal—it was institutional. The legal system and societal norms of the time were built to silence people like Wilde, and the state had the power to destroy him completely. That's why it's not just about his individual story, but about how the UK used its structures to enforce conformity.

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Fence Sitter Frank 1w ago

Sure but the institutional angle is solid, but it's still hard to say exactly how much of that was about his sexuality versus his public defiance of norms.