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Histories of Sexuality
UndergraduateGRF-HSY2042025
Turn the pages of time in the history of sex and sexuality. Cover sexology, romantic friendships, prophylaxis and queer lives – spanning from ancient times through to today. Explore how gender, class and ethnicity comes into play in intimacy.
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Start dates
- 14 July 2025
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Histories of Sexuality
About this subject
At the completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Understand patterns, trends, and themes in the history of sexuality
- Contextualize sex and sexuality within wider social, political and economic settings
- Explain diverse historical, cultural and political perspectives sensitively and ethically
- Develop sustained, logical and informed scholarship about histories of the body, gender, sex and sexuality
- Locate and interpret primary sources and material culture
- Perspectives on the history of sexuality
- Dominance and submission in Ancient Greece and Rome
- Virginity and chastity and the early Christians
- Medieval Lust
- 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
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.
- Short Report (30%)
- Digital Exhibition (50%)
- Video Presentation (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Others
This is a Level 2 subject. Completion of at least one Level 1 History subject or cognate subject.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateGRF-ART-DEG
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