Synopses & Reviews
A Cultural History of Sexuality presents an overarching survey from ancient times to the present. With six volumes covering 2800 years, this is the most authoritative history of sexuality in all its many forms across Western cultures. Volume 1: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Classical World Edited by Mark Golden, University of Winnipeg, and Peter Toohey, University of Calgary Volume 2: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages Edited by Ruth Evans, Saint Louis University Volume 3: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Renaissance Edited by Bette Talvacchia, University of Connecticut Volume 4: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Enlightenment Edited by Julie Peakman, Birkbeck College, University of London Volume 5: Sexuality in the Age of Empire Edited by Chiara Beccalossi, University of Queensland, Australia, and Ivan Crozier, University of Edinburgh Volume 6: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Modern Age Gert Hekma, University of Amsterdam Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: 1. Heterosexuality; 2. Homosexuality; 3. Sexual Variations; 4. Sex Religion, and the Law; 5. Sex, Medicine and Disease; 6. Sex, Popular Beliefs and Culture; 7. Prostitution; 8. Erotica. This means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume.
Synopsis
In the period between 1650 and 1820 new worlds of sex opened up. This was a pivotal time when old religious beliefs and medical theories about sexuality and the body clashed with innovatory ideas emerging from natural science and philosophy. In addition, a burgeoning print industry fed a rapidly expanding reading public with erotica. With the breakdown of old community networks and increased urbanization, authorities reacted to increased sexual license with a raft of new regulations designed to curtail variations in sexual behaviour.
A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Enlightenment presents an overview of the period with essays on heterosexuality, homosexuality, sexual variations, religious and legal issues, health concerns, popular beliefs about sexuality, prostitution and erotica.
About the Author
Julie Peakman teaches at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. Her recent books include Lascivious Bodies: A Sexual History of the Eighteenth Century and Mighty Lewd Books: The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-Century England. She has also edited Sexual Perversions, 1670-1890, eight volumes of Whores Bibliographies 1680 -1815, and is currently writing a sexual history of the world.
Table of Contents
Preface
Series Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
1 Introduction
Julie Peakman, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
2 Heterosexuality: Europe and North America
Anna Clark, University of Minnesota, USA
3 Homosexuality
Rictor Norton, Independent Scholar, UK
4 Sexual Variations
Marianna Muravyeva, University of Helsinki, Finland
5 Sex, Religion and the Law
Merril D. Smith, Independent Scholar, USA
6 Sex, Medicine and Disease
George Rousseau, University of Oxford, UK
7 Sex, Popular Beliefs and Culture
Heike Bauer, Birkbeck Institute of Gender and Sexuality, UK
8 Prostitution
Randolph Trumbach, City University of New York, USA
9 Erotica: Representing Sex in the Eighteenth Century
Katherine Crawford, Vanderbilt University, USA
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index