HIS 241LEC—Sexuality in America

What does sexuality have to do with American history or politics? In “Sexuality in America” we explore the topics of sex-sexual behavior, sexual morality, sexual identity, and sexual experience by placing them in historical context and tracing changes over time in the ways Americans have understood and tried to regulate sexuality. We question to what extent sexuality is natural/biological or cultural/social. To understand sexuality as having a history, we will investigate three areas within American society: First, we will look at views of sexuality within major belief systems like religion, science, and the law. Second, we will trace changing sexual beliefs and practices in everyday life, examining sex as an ordinary part of family and community life. Finally, we will look at sexuality when it becomes an explicit part of American political life, as it did in the 19th-century temperance movement, the early 20th century birth control movement, the post-Stonewall (1969) gay and lesbian movement, and today’s anti-abortion movement.USH