Phillips / Reay Sex Before Sexuality

A Premodern History
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7456-7281-6
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 208 Seiten, E-Book

Reihe: Themes in History

Sexuality in modern western culture is central to identity but thetendency to define by sexuality does not apply to the premodernpast. Before the 'invention' of sexuality, erotic acts and desireswere comprehended as species of sin, expressions of idealised love,courtship, and marriage, or components of intimacies between men orwomen, not as outworkings of an innermost self. With a focus on c.1100-c. 1800, this book explores the shifting meanings,languages, and practices of western sex. It is the first study tocombine the medieval and early modern to rethink this time of sexbefore sexuality, where same-sex and opposite-sex desire anderoticism bore but faint traces of what moderns came to callheterosexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, and pornography.
This volume aims to contribute to contemporary historical theorythrough paying attention to the particularity of premodern sexualcultures. Phillips and Reay argue that students of premodern sexwill be blocked in their understanding if they use terms andconcepts applicable to sexuality since the late nineteenth century,and modern commentators will never know their subject without adeeper comprehension of sex's history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Phillips, Kim M.

Reay, Barry

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements.
List of Images.
Introduction: Sex Before Sexuality.
1. Sin.
2. Before Heterosexuality.
3. Between Men.
4. Between Women.
5. Before Pornography.
Epilogue: Sex at Sea?

Über Autor(innen)

Kim Phillips is senior lecturer in history at the Universityof Auckland.
Barry Reay is professor of history at the University ofAuckland.