Description
Book SynopsisA History of Sexuality in Modern Germany offers both a detailed survey of this key subject and a new intervention in the history of sexuality in modern Germany. It investigates the diverse and often contradictory ways in which individuals, activists, doctors, politicians, artists, social movements and cultural commentators have defined normal' or natural' sexuality in Germany over the past two centuries. Katie Sutton explores how these definitions have been used to shape identities, behaviors, bodies and practices, particularly around norms of heterosexual, marital, reproductive sex. At the same time, she examines how such ideas enabled the policing of unnatural' or deviant' bodies and practices. Covering a range of crucial themes, including birth control, prostitution, homosexual rights and heterosexual intimacy, this important text comes with 30 illustrations, a useful glossary and interesting biographical vignettes which help to illuminate the narrative. Primary source extrac
Trade ReviewThis fascinating, authoritative study places topical debates into historical context, revealing the multifaceted nature of modernities and the shifting, heterogeneous nature of past sexualities and the moral norms that shaped them. Foregrounding questions of conformity and resistance, the book sheds light on the hotly-contested debates over gender and sexual identities that confront contemporary scholars. * Ingrid Sharp, Professor of German Cultural and Gender History, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. *
Katie Sutton’s
Sexuality in Modern German History deftly weaves the important topics in the history of modern sexuality—mariage, prostitution, homosexuality, and trans identities—with the turns in German history, from the early nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. An invaluable resurce for beginning students as well as established scholars! * Robert Deam Tobin, Henry J Leir Chair Professor of Comparative Literature, Clark University, USA *
Table of ContentsList of Figures Introduction. Sexuality in Modern German History 1. Enlightening Intimacy: From Reformation to Unification 2. Sexual Modernity and Nationhood: 1871-1918 3. Babylon Berlin? Liberation, Violence and Politics in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 4. Pronatalism to Persecution: Sex in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 5. Love, Sex, and Marriage in the Divided Germanies 6. Sexual Evolutions and Revolutions: From Rock’n’Roll to Gay Liberation Conclusion. Political Transitions and Intimate Transformations since the Berlin Wall Bibliography Index
