The origins of sex
Subtitle: a history of the first sexual revolution
By: Faramerz Dabhoiwala
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 496
ISBN-13: 9780199892419
Subjects: Sex; History; Western Civilization; Sex customs; Sexual ethics
Description: "In The Origins of Sex, Faramerz Dabhoiwala provides a landmark history, one that will revolutionize our understanding of the origins of sexuality in modern Western culture. For millennia, sex had been strictly regulated by the Church, the state, and society, who vigorously and brutally attempted to punish any sex outside of marriage. But by 1800, everything had changed. Drawing on vast research--from canon law to court cases, from novels to pornography, not to mention the diaries and letters of people great and ordinary--Dabhoiwala shows how this dramatic change came about, tracing the interplay of intellectual trends, religious and cultural shifts, and politics and demographics. The Enlightenment led to the presumption that sex was a private matter; that morality could not be imposed; that men, not women, were the more lustful gender. Moreover, the rise of cities eroded community-based moral policing, and religious divisions undermined both church authority and fear of divine punishment. Sex became a central topic in poetry, drama, and fiction; diarists such as Samuel Pepys obsessed over it. In the 1700s, it became possible for a Church of Scotland leader to commend complete sexual liberty for both men and women. Arguing that the sexual revolution that really counted occurred long before the cultural movement of the 1960s, Dabhoiwala offers readers an engaging and wholly original look at the Western world's relationship to sex"--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Prologue: the culture of discipline; title: Power and punishment; title: The decline and fall of public punishment; title: The rise of sexual freedom; title: The cult of seduction; title: The new world of men and women; title: The origins of white slavery; title: The media and the message; title: Epilogue: modern cultures of sex : from the Victorians to the twenty-first century; title: Notes; title: List of illustrations; title: Index.