Sexuality in American History, 1880-1980

Sexuality in American History, 1880-1980 (AMCV 0190E)

Instructor: Gill Frank

This course focuses on popular struggles over sexuality in the United States from 1880-1980. We will study how sexual values have been constructed and have changed over time. Topics include: same sex and opposite-sex sexualities, reproductive politics, commercialized sexualities, sexual health and disease, and intra-and inter-ethnic and-racial sexualities.

Should people be educated about sex? How should sex be depicted in popular culture? What kinds of sexuality are normal and abnormal? Who can have sex and when? During the course of the 20th century, questions like these have informed major controversies and underpinned key social struggles in the United States. How these questions have been answered has radically changed over time and has shaped American's thoughts and values.

The study of sexuality has become one of the most exciting and challenging areas of intellectual inquiry in the university. It's study forces us to rethink our fundamental assumptions about our bodies, desires and our society. Sexuality is often thought of as an unchanging need, behavior, or instinct that has no history. In our course, however, we treat sexuality as socially constructed, culturally specific and historically dynamic. In studying sexuality, we will attempt to understand how sexual desires, activities, identities and attitudes, have changed profoundly over time and have been the site of political struggles and transformations.

We will examine sexuality over a one-hundred year period and will pay particular attention to the changing meanings of sexual acts, sexual identities and sexual communities. In covering these topics, we will explore the centrality of sexuality to history as a whole and the ways in which the study of sexuality offers opportunities to re-think major themes in U.S. political, social, and cultural history.

Topics: Readings and discussions focus on same-sex and cross-sex sexualities (including bisexual, gay, intersexed, lesbian, queer, straight, and transgendered sexualities); reproductive sexualities (and the related topics of abortion, birth control, and fertility); commercialized sexualities (and the related topics of pornography, prostitution, and sex work); sexual health and disease; and intra- and inter-ethnic and -racial sexualities

A major goal of the course is to teach students how to apply both historical and theoretical analysis, that is, to understand change over time and to recognize that our perceptions about sexuality are socially constructed and culturally mediated. Each class will discuss articles about subjects in nineteenth and twentieth century American sexuality. The readings move chronologically, from the nineteenth century to the present. In so doing, we will understand how our present social values and controversies have been shaped by struggles over sexuality in the past.

No prior course work is required to take this course, but a sincere commitment to understanding the history of sexuality and a willingness to complete all course assignments are essential. Beyond the presumption that sexuality is socially constructed and historically specific, the course takes no single perspective. A major goal is to train students in analytical skills that will help them think critically about sexuality in the past, the present, and the future. If you have further questions, please contact the instructor at Gill_Frank@Brown.edu.