Histories of Sexuality

• • Perspectives on the history of sexuality
  • Dominance and submission in Ancient Greece and Rome
  • Virginity and chastity and the early Christians
  • Medieval sexuality
  • The puritans: Austerity in the American colonies:?
  • 'Enlightened' sexuality in the eighteenth century
  • The Victorians
  • Friends and lovers: Romantic friendships and marriage
  • Dating and mating: teenagers
  • Sexualities under fire: The Second World War
  • Sexual revolutions
  • Androids and Apps: Sexuality in the twenty-first century

Others

This is a Level 2 subject. Completion of at least one Level 1 History subject or cognate subject.

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

Please note: This subject was previously known as - 'History of Sex and Sexuality'

Sexuality saturates modern life. Our sexual and gender identities signal our selfhood to others and define who we are, whether that's straight, queer, trans or gender diverse, or one of many other possibilities. Sex is everywhere, from the sheets to the streets, to the internet. How we present ourselves, who we are intimate with, what we do and how often we do it is the subject of commentary, intervention, and regulation. But who has determined what's 'unnatural' and what's 'normal and when? What have historical actors, experts and institutions said in the past about sex? And have ordinary people always followed the rules?

This unit explores histories of sex and sexuality from antiquity to the present. Taking a chronological approach to private practices and erotic lives, we will investigate diverse topics, including prostitution, marriage, crossdressing, birth control, war, chastity, queer lives and the internet to identify historical change and continuity. The course focuses on practices, identities and attitudes in Europe, the US, and Australia to consider how gender, class and ethnicity inflect public narratives and intimate lives. Using primary sources and historical objects, you will investigate the meanings people and institutions attach to desire, bodies, and sexuality at different times and places and interrogate our contemporary sexual lives and their possibilities.

• Online Discussion (30%)
• Case Study - Minor Essay (30%)
• Major Essay (40%)

Current study term: 17 Jul 22 to 14 Oct 22

Next study term: 06 Nov 22 to 15 Jan 23