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Sex among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender and Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830
Placing sexual culture at the center of power relations in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia, Clare A. Lyons uncovers a world where runaway wives challenged their husbands' patriarchal rights and where serial and casual sexual relationships were commonplace. By reading popular representations of sex against actual behavior, Lyons reveals the clash of meanings given to sex and illuminates struggles to recast sexuality in order to eliminate its subversive potential.
Sexuality became the vehicle for exploring currents of liberty, freedom, and individualism in the politics of everyday life among groups of early Americans typically excluded from formal systems of governance--women, African Americans, and poor classes of whites. Lyons shows that men and women created a vibrant urban pleasure culture, including the eroticization of print culture, as eighteenth-century readers became fascinated with stories of bastardy, prostitution, seduction, and adultery. In the post-Revolutionary reaction, white middle-class men asserted their authority, Lyons argues, by creating a gender system that simultaneously allowed them the liberty of their passions, constrained middle-class women with virtue, and projected licentiousness onto lower-class whites and African Americans.
Lyons's analysis shows how class and racial divisions fostered new constructions of sexuality that served as a foundation for gender. This gendering of sexuality in the new nation was integral to reconstituting social hierarchies and subordinating women and African Americans in the wake of the Revolution.
Sexuality became the vehicle for exploring currents of liberty, freedom, and individualism in the politics of everyday life among groups of early Americans typically excluded from formal systems of governance--women, African Americans, and poor classes of whites. Lyons shows that men and women created a vibrant urban pleasure culture, including the eroticization of print culture, as eighteenth-century readers became fascinated with stories of bastardy, prostitution, seduction, and adultery. In the post-Revolutionary reaction, white middle-class men asserted their authority, Lyons argues, by creating a gender system that simultaneously allowed them the liberty of their passions, constrained middle-class women with virtue, and projected licentiousness onto lower-class whites and African Americans.
Lyons's analysis shows how class and racial divisions fostered new constructions of sexuality that served as a foundation for gender. This gendering of sexuality in the new nation was integral to reconstituting social hierarchies and subordinating women and African Americans in the wake of the Revolution.
432 pages, Paperback
First published February 27, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 8, 2015
When wedded Nell was brought to Bed,
She scream’d and roar’d with Pain;
She’d rather die a Maid, she said,
Was it to do again.
Pray have a little Patience, Nell,
And say, why now this Pother?
Before your marriage you could tell,
What ‘twas to be a mother.
I’m the first to admit that I’m rather ignorant about the history of the United States. I know the basics but then, of course, the American culture is so different to that of mine in the United Kingdom. I put this down to the US being a large continent with so many diverse states.
The US is also a relatively young country and when one sees what it has happened during those years since independence in 1776 on 4 July (wasn’t it July 2 or am I being pedantic?).
Anyway, I’m digressing from ths book. The reason why I decided to read this was because of the following comment made by Kris, who lives and works in Philadelphia:
Hi Lynne! It's excellent. I taught it for the first time last week, and my students loved it. Fascinating, well-written and researched, with a great variety of primary sources and lots of illustrations. Definitely highly recommended!
The subject is particularly interesting plus I’m always taken with statistics.
First of all though, I want to thank William Penn for founding this city. At one stage in his life this Quaker lived at Penn in Bucks, not too far from when I was living in Chorleywood, Herts. Memories are always so important aren’t they?
I find the title of this book somewhat sensational but upon further reading this was actually the foundation of the book which “investigates the sexual culture created in Philadelphia and the intimate history of its people”.
There are delightful plates studded throughout, mixed in with statistics covering a wide range of topics, including for example a table discussing Quaker Women’s Sexual Transgressions, 1760-1779. I found it fascinating to see the offences listed which included: Bastardy, fornication, premarital sex, consanguineous marriage, keeping bad company, disorderly house and becoming dress. There are also petitions discussing cause of action in divorce petitions, etc. Premarital sex was the norm as was bastardy.
The poems are also delightful:
I hate the bottle and the glass,
But sigh for ev’ry pretty lass;
My youthful blood don’t yet require,
A stimulus to warm desire;
With natal heat and vigor bless’d,
The rapt’rous joys of loved possess’d,
I leave your dull, phlegmatic souls,
To seek your bliss in flowing bowls;
While I bow down at Venus’ shrine,
And they adore the god of wine.
A fascinating book that one can open at any page and find something of interest to read.
April 13, 2021
Absolutely fascinating.
March 13, 2014
This is an important book for understanding the history of women in the US. It's an amazing work of history with great notes; it's probably not for a lay reader, but even so, give it a shot.
I came to this book interested in a very specific point in Philadelphia's history...but also as someone who has worked for victims' rights (primarily women who were sexually victimized). I can't emphasize enough how looking at this century of change in attitudes about sexuality and gender, just in this one city, can tell us about how mutable attitudes about sex and gender can be and how fast they can change.
Between 1730 and 1830, prevailing attitudes about extra-marital sex--from prostitution to adultery to seduction to bastardy to child support--went from permissive and understanding to women as victims (who had power to shape their lives) to the more typical fallen-woman-brought-it-on-herself attitude that sadly still exists. Philadelphia in the decades before the Revolution was liberal and rather practical in how it treated sex. For example, prostitution was rarely prosecuted, divorce was relatively easy to obtain (extra-judicially, but a divorce law did emerge later), and there was an established bureaucracy for ensuring illegitimate children would be provided for. "Fallen" women could go on with their lives and rejoin society.
In the early nineteenth century, though, all of this was changing as gender/sex roles calcified. "Fallen" women narratives generally ended in disease and death. Women had fewer resources available to them to obtain support for their illegitimate children. This understanding is the story we're already familiar with.
Although it is depressing reading what now seems like the inevitable march to Antebellum/Victorian attitudes, I came away from the book with renewed hope that a reverse trend--back toward liberality, compassion, and understanding--is possible, too. In the last thirty years, so much has changed in the US and around the world. At the end of a century, just imagine how far we could go.
I came to this book interested in a very specific point in Philadelphia's history...but also as someone who has worked for victims' rights (primarily women who were sexually victimized). I can't emphasize enough how looking at this century of change in attitudes about sexuality and gender, just in this one city, can tell us about how mutable attitudes about sex and gender can be and how fast they can change.
Between 1730 and 1830, prevailing attitudes about extra-marital sex--from prostitution to adultery to seduction to bastardy to child support--went from permissive and understanding to women as victims (who had power to shape their lives) to the more typical fallen-woman-brought-it-on-herself attitude that sadly still exists. Philadelphia in the decades before the Revolution was liberal and rather practical in how it treated sex. For example, prostitution was rarely prosecuted, divorce was relatively easy to obtain (extra-judicially, but a divorce law did emerge later), and there was an established bureaucracy for ensuring illegitimate children would be provided for. "Fallen" women could go on with their lives and rejoin society.
In the early nineteenth century, though, all of this was changing as gender/sex roles calcified. "Fallen" women narratives generally ended in disease and death. Women had fewer resources available to them to obtain support for their illegitimate children. This understanding is the story we're already familiar with.
Although it is depressing reading what now seems like the inevitable march to Antebellum/Victorian attitudes, I came away from the book with renewed hope that a reverse trend--back toward liberality, compassion, and understanding--is possible, too. In the last thirty years, so much has changed in the US and around the world. At the end of a century, just imagine how far we could go.
November 27, 2010
In Sex among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830, Clare A. Lyon explores how Philadelphian society used the reconstruction of gender systems to organize and regulate power as a response to the altered perspective of gender provided by the Enlightenment. (2-3) Specifically, Lyon studies the subjugation of women and African-Americans through sexuality. Lyon navigates a wide area of early American cultural history with their gender relations and accepted sexual activities. She then proceeds to explain how the normalization of these systems was used to disenfranchise women and separate by class and race.
With this argument, Lyon intends to “fill a crucial gap in the history of sexuality in America.” (4) She suggests that Philadelphia differs in gender relations than the longer established New England colonies, and thus provides a unique “history of gender, sex, and power” for early America. (6) Lyon also points to her personal experiences in contemporary women’s rights movements as a motivation to “address the interwoven strands of racial, gender, and economic oppression evident in the sexual subordination of women.” (395) While a direct link between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries would be tenuous, Lyon does an excellent job of showing how normative sexuality can be a powerful subjugating force.
Sex among the Rabble primarily deals with issues of power. Lyon touches on many forms of power and specifically those of interest to American historians: economic, political and the autonomy of individuals. All of these ideas are threaded together with gender history. Additionally, Lyon studies the sexuality of subaltern groups. While some might suggest this is a feminist work, but such a suggestion would meet varying degrees of success. Feminism itself would not lend well to her emphasis on African Americans and racial inequity and her operating definition of the term “patriarchy” wouldn’t be consistent with other feminists . Nevertheless, Lyon draws ideas from feminism, for example gender roles as a performed act rather than a biological certainty.
Lyon wields a wide variety of sources effectively. She includes newspaper advertisements as de facto divorces, stories from almanacs that relate cultural understanding, as well as civic and court records that detail circumstances of specific events. The amount of depth Lyon discovers in these sources inspires. Beyond simply discovering and conveying these sources to the reader, Lyon skillfully interprets the cultural relevance of each. This use of cultural history is particularly apparent in her exposition of almanacs. Frequently used by historians studying early America, almanacs provide a wider cultural view than the circumstances of an isolated incident might. In one case, Lyon uses the first “explicitly bawdy poem” printed in a Philadelphian almanac to show the changing popular tastes. (119)
Sex among the Rabble begins in the middle of the eighteenth century. The first part of three is devoted to exploring the “sexual terrain” of the period. Primarily focusing on providing context for her argument, Lyon delves into how Philadelphians understood and practiced gender. She then continues to explore how this understanding grew wider. The second part looks for the influence of the Enlightenment and revolutionary thought on gender relations. Lyon argues that the ideas of the Enlightenment raised questions concerning individual rights. Further, Lyon places Philadelphian gender relationships within the scope of the American Revolution. Finally, the third part of the book discusses the normalization of sexuality and the reassertion of a white male headed hierarchy. Here she discusses the codification of sexuality and the development a “two-tier system of sexuality, which reinforced both class and racial divisions.” (310) While Lyons has organized her book chronologically this is the result of organizing the book to show the transforming beliefs of a people group.
Sex among the Rabble should be required reading for every student of American history. The wide variety of sources and Lyon’s deep insight into each spurs one to consider fresh approaches every field. By narrowing her focus exclusively to Pennsylvania and its capital, Philadelphia, specifically, Lyon is able to develop unyielding conclusions with wide implications. Even so, Lyon never oversteps her work and limits her claims to areas within her purview. The result is a compelling work on power that brings sexuality to the forefront. After on Lyon’s work, sexuality should be considered in all cultural histories as an influential force in the distribution and denial power.
With this argument, Lyon intends to “fill a crucial gap in the history of sexuality in America.” (4) She suggests that Philadelphia differs in gender relations than the longer established New England colonies, and thus provides a unique “history of gender, sex, and power” for early America. (6) Lyon also points to her personal experiences in contemporary women’s rights movements as a motivation to “address the interwoven strands of racial, gender, and economic oppression evident in the sexual subordination of women.” (395) While a direct link between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries would be tenuous, Lyon does an excellent job of showing how normative sexuality can be a powerful subjugating force.
Sex among the Rabble primarily deals with issues of power. Lyon touches on many forms of power and specifically those of interest to American historians: economic, political and the autonomy of individuals. All of these ideas are threaded together with gender history. Additionally, Lyon studies the sexuality of subaltern groups. While some might suggest this is a feminist work, but such a suggestion would meet varying degrees of success. Feminism itself would not lend well to her emphasis on African Americans and racial inequity and her operating definition of the term “patriarchy” wouldn’t be consistent with other feminists . Nevertheless, Lyon draws ideas from feminism, for example gender roles as a performed act rather than a biological certainty.
Lyon wields a wide variety of sources effectively. She includes newspaper advertisements as de facto divorces, stories from almanacs that relate cultural understanding, as well as civic and court records that detail circumstances of specific events. The amount of depth Lyon discovers in these sources inspires. Beyond simply discovering and conveying these sources to the reader, Lyon skillfully interprets the cultural relevance of each. This use of cultural history is particularly apparent in her exposition of almanacs. Frequently used by historians studying early America, almanacs provide a wider cultural view than the circumstances of an isolated incident might. In one case, Lyon uses the first “explicitly bawdy poem” printed in a Philadelphian almanac to show the changing popular tastes. (119)
Sex among the Rabble begins in the middle of the eighteenth century. The first part of three is devoted to exploring the “sexual terrain” of the period. Primarily focusing on providing context for her argument, Lyon delves into how Philadelphians understood and practiced gender. She then continues to explore how this understanding grew wider. The second part looks for the influence of the Enlightenment and revolutionary thought on gender relations. Lyon argues that the ideas of the Enlightenment raised questions concerning individual rights. Further, Lyon places Philadelphian gender relationships within the scope of the American Revolution. Finally, the third part of the book discusses the normalization of sexuality and the reassertion of a white male headed hierarchy. Here she discusses the codification of sexuality and the development a “two-tier system of sexuality, which reinforced both class and racial divisions.” (310) While Lyons has organized her book chronologically this is the result of organizing the book to show the transforming beliefs of a people group.
Sex among the Rabble should be required reading for every student of American history. The wide variety of sources and Lyon’s deep insight into each spurs one to consider fresh approaches every field. By narrowing her focus exclusively to Pennsylvania and its capital, Philadelphia, specifically, Lyon is able to develop unyielding conclusions with wide implications. Even so, Lyon never oversteps her work and limits her claims to areas within her purview. The result is a compelling work on power that brings sexuality to the forefront. After on Lyon’s work, sexuality should be considered in all cultural histories as an influential force in the distribution and denial power.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2022
Pretty solid history of how attitudes about sex and gender shifted generationally over the course of one hundred years in the city of Philadelphia. While some notions could be applied to the United States as a whole, Lyons concentrated wisely on the experience in one city, the largest or second largest in British North America/Early Republic. She skillfully leans heavily on primary print culture sources, in one of those "actually, history isn't static and what you think you might know about a subject probably depends on when and where we're talking about" type narratives.
Turns out, sex outside of marriage and children produced in those marriages were very much tolerated and not very much looked down upon, as well as bawdyhouses, self-divorce declaration, and attitudes about women's sexual independence. During the Revolutionary and Early Republic, women gained more independence and attitudes about sex seemed to be more liberatory. But as the country moved more towards Antebellum/Victorian mores, women's sexuality was deemed threatening and middle to upper classes sought to separate themselves from the sex practices of "the rabble" (particularly around race) in order to claim the mantle of virtuous citizenship and how the rabble could be reformed. Lyons looks to those reformers seeking to end public assistance to those poor women with bastard children, especially biracial kids, after decades of open tolerance for those practices and marriage being treated as more a way to keep men supporting those children they helped sire. Now, sex was openly attacked and the attitudes began to morph into something much more restrictive.
Good argument. Like much of gender and cultural histories, it can take some getting your head around the concepts.
Turns out, sex outside of marriage and children produced in those marriages were very much tolerated and not very much looked down upon, as well as bawdyhouses, self-divorce declaration, and attitudes about women's sexual independence. During the Revolutionary and Early Republic, women gained more independence and attitudes about sex seemed to be more liberatory. But as the country moved more towards Antebellum/Victorian mores, women's sexuality was deemed threatening and middle to upper classes sought to separate themselves from the sex practices of "the rabble" (particularly around race) in order to claim the mantle of virtuous citizenship and how the rabble could be reformed. Lyons looks to those reformers seeking to end public assistance to those poor women with bastard children, especially biracial kids, after decades of open tolerance for those practices and marriage being treated as more a way to keep men supporting those children they helped sire. Now, sex was openly attacked and the attitudes began to morph into something much more restrictive.
Good argument. Like much of gender and cultural histories, it can take some getting your head around the concepts.
July 4, 2017
4.5 ⭐️
Excellent work
Excellent work
October 23, 2018
Masterful analysis of an impressive amount of research.
October 3, 2019
Lyons went in so hard and I loved it.
November 14, 2019
Innovative research, but fails to achieve what it is trying to argue. It’s more about women’s liberation than the actual power dynamics of the era and culture.
October 6, 2025
Review soon
February 19, 2019
I enjoyed this read! Clare Lyons drew upon newspaper clippings, church, and public records, diaries, etc to paint Philadelphia’s expansive sexual culture as women affirmed their rights during Pre-Revolution. Then, she showed how their liberation helped marginalized them as undesirable women when white middle-class men reasserted their male dominance while forging a new social- racial gendered system.
Many of us were familiar with this argument and it was a sound one. Clare employed social and cultural-historical methodological approaches as she interpreted her primary sources. She showed great skill at examining social nuances. At times, she overly stretched their meaning to make them neatly fit into her argument. But, it barely detracted from her overall thesis and gave a bit room to doubt. I found this a good thing.
Also, Clare overly repeated a lot of her conclusions and the book could have been shortened by at least 50 pages. This repetition may be helpful for those readers who sometimes became so lost in details that they forgot a book’s general point. Clare will keep you focused!
Overall, Sex Among the Rabble was an interesting read and a good start for anyone who wanted to study the dynamics of gender and class during America’s early modern period.
Many of us were familiar with this argument and it was a sound one. Clare employed social and cultural-historical methodological approaches as she interpreted her primary sources. She showed great skill at examining social nuances. At times, she overly stretched their meaning to make them neatly fit into her argument. But, it barely detracted from her overall thesis and gave a bit room to doubt. I found this a good thing.
Also, Clare overly repeated a lot of her conclusions and the book could have been shortened by at least 50 pages. This repetition may be helpful for those readers who sometimes became so lost in details that they forgot a book’s general point. Clare will keep you focused!
Overall, Sex Among the Rabble was an interesting read and a good start for anyone who wanted to study the dynamics of gender and class during America’s early modern period.
November 16, 2016
Here's the review I wrote for class:
In Sex Among the Rabble, Clare A. Lyons argues that the sexually exploratory culture of pre-Revolution Philadelphia disappeared as a new culture, intent on preserving gender and class hierarchies, replaced it. In the new republic, Philadelphians policed the sexuality of the lower class “rabble” while sexual permissiveness remained the province of the middling and upper classes.
The Revolutionary Period, in which new political liberties accompanied the propagation of Enlightenment ideals about individual liberty and self-determination, saw Philadelphians challenging the rigidity of class and gender norms. Before divorce was legal, the practice of “self-divorce” was common, in which husbands advertised notices in newspapers of a wife’s “elopement” or of his severing of ties and refusal to incur a wife’s debt. Women faced minor social or legal consequences for leaving a husband or taking a lover. Births out of wedlock grew more common as men and women participated freely in nonmarital sex. “Bawdyhouses,” or brothels, while not legal, occupied an accepted place in society.
The popular conception of gender during this period was that the dynamic balance of an individual’s “humors” determined one’s masculinity or femininity. Sexual lust was intrinsic to both men and women, and its expression was healthy and desirable. This is not to say that gender parity existed, as masculine traits were clearly privileged and husbands exercised more economic power (though wives’ economic power was not insignificant).
As Philadelphians grappled with the implications of sexually empowered women toward the end of the 18th century into the beginning of the 19th century they turned to essentialized gender differences based on biology to cast men as lustful and women as virtuous. Popular print culture began an effort to illustrate “proper power relations between men and women […] to counter the assertive independence of women in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia” (118). This served to rescue men’s privilege from the threat of sexually empowered women.
The new republic demanded individual virtue from its citizens, and with this mindset, Philadelphians began to police sexuality more strictly. The brunt of this negative attention fell disproportionately on women and those of the lower classes, especially African Americans. Religious organizations sought to reform prostitutes while the legal system punished them and spared their patrons. Meanwhile, extramarital sex began to be synonymous with prostitution as sexual exploration overall became viewed as deviant behavior, indicative of one’s inferior character. Institutions for poor single mothers, like almshouses, became grudging in their support as a punitive measure.
In reading the public record—such as the reporting of “bastardy” in almshouses—against the popular depictions of gender relations, Lyons employs social and cultural history techniques to provide a trenchant account of the dynamism of gender and class hierarchies during a time of rapid change. While the reader should hesitate to extrapolate too much from this study of Philadelphia, which Lyons repeatedly reminds us was unique among other cities of its time, post-Revolution ideas about sexuality, class and gender resonate to this day. Despite its conspicuous lack of information about homosexuality, Sex Among the Rabble is a valuable contribution to an understanding of social hierarchy during the Revolutionary Period.
In Sex Among the Rabble, Clare A. Lyons argues that the sexually exploratory culture of pre-Revolution Philadelphia disappeared as a new culture, intent on preserving gender and class hierarchies, replaced it. In the new republic, Philadelphians policed the sexuality of the lower class “rabble” while sexual permissiveness remained the province of the middling and upper classes.
The Revolutionary Period, in which new political liberties accompanied the propagation of Enlightenment ideals about individual liberty and self-determination, saw Philadelphians challenging the rigidity of class and gender norms. Before divorce was legal, the practice of “self-divorce” was common, in which husbands advertised notices in newspapers of a wife’s “elopement” or of his severing of ties and refusal to incur a wife’s debt. Women faced minor social or legal consequences for leaving a husband or taking a lover. Births out of wedlock grew more common as men and women participated freely in nonmarital sex. “Bawdyhouses,” or brothels, while not legal, occupied an accepted place in society.
The popular conception of gender during this period was that the dynamic balance of an individual’s “humors” determined one’s masculinity or femininity. Sexual lust was intrinsic to both men and women, and its expression was healthy and desirable. This is not to say that gender parity existed, as masculine traits were clearly privileged and husbands exercised more economic power (though wives’ economic power was not insignificant).
As Philadelphians grappled with the implications of sexually empowered women toward the end of the 18th century into the beginning of the 19th century they turned to essentialized gender differences based on biology to cast men as lustful and women as virtuous. Popular print culture began an effort to illustrate “proper power relations between men and women […] to counter the assertive independence of women in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia” (118). This served to rescue men’s privilege from the threat of sexually empowered women.
The new republic demanded individual virtue from its citizens, and with this mindset, Philadelphians began to police sexuality more strictly. The brunt of this negative attention fell disproportionately on women and those of the lower classes, especially African Americans. Religious organizations sought to reform prostitutes while the legal system punished them and spared their patrons. Meanwhile, extramarital sex began to be synonymous with prostitution as sexual exploration overall became viewed as deviant behavior, indicative of one’s inferior character. Institutions for poor single mothers, like almshouses, became grudging in their support as a punitive measure.
In reading the public record—such as the reporting of “bastardy” in almshouses—against the popular depictions of gender relations, Lyons employs social and cultural history techniques to provide a trenchant account of the dynamism of gender and class hierarchies during a time of rapid change. While the reader should hesitate to extrapolate too much from this study of Philadelphia, which Lyons repeatedly reminds us was unique among other cities of its time, post-Revolution ideas about sexuality, class and gender resonate to this day. Despite its conspicuous lack of information about homosexuality, Sex Among the Rabble is a valuable contribution to an understanding of social hierarchy during the Revolutionary Period.
October 9, 2015
Lyons makes her points and paints an interesting picture of Philadelphia's Revolutionary era sexuality, but it's repetitive. Quite a lot of statistics about bastardy. I would not recommend it to a layman reader.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews