Description
Book SynopsisA history of sexuality runs the risk of confirming popular fears that academics are capable of ruining even the most simple of pleasures. This book, however, is written in the hope that histories of sexuality (although not necessarily this one) can enlighten and, occasionally, even delight. At their best such histories offer a means of investigating the clash of instinct and culture how seemingly timeless and natural behaviours shape and are in turn shaped by history. Sexual practices may persist through time but history also illuminates how sex and sexuality are surprisingly mutable. This capacity of history to unsettle and surprise is evident in many of the works discussed here. In less than 40 years the history of sexuality, as a definable area of scholarly enterprise, has grown from a few works describing past attitudes and behaviours into an enormously rich field that sustains its own journal, a number of monograph series and countless seminars, conferences, articles and books. M
Table of ContentsPreface 1. Writing Sexual History 2. Rule of the Phallus 3. Sexual Austerity 4. Christian Friendships 5. Making Heterosexuality 6. Victorianism 7. Dominance and Desire 8. Feminism and Friendship 9. Imagining Perversion 10. Normalising Sexuality 11. Sexual Revolution Epilogue
