Sexology in Culture: Labelling Bodies and Desires

by Lucy Bland (Editor), Laura L. Doan

The key founders of sexology, the "science of desire," were Havelock Ellis, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, and Magnus Hirschfeld. This volume examines the impact of their writings on English-speaking culture from the 1880s to the early 1940s. How influential a field was sexology during this period, and how much power did sexologists wield? What was the impact of their work on popular and official attitudes to sex?

Lucy Bland and Laura Doan have brought together leading historians of sex, cultural and literary critics, and scholars in gay, lesbian, and queer studies, to reassess current debates on sexology in light of its history. They address issues such as the relation of "sexual science" to the law, government policy, journalism, eugenics programs, marriage and sex manuals, and literary representation. They also map out new readings of transsexuality and bisexuality, and the centrality of race within sexology.

Sexology in Culture and its companion Sexology Uncensored will interest all those concerned with understanding modern sexual discourse in its historical context.

Genres: History, Sexuality, Theory

236 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Lucy Bland FRHistS is a British professor of social and cultural history at Anglia Ruskin University. Much of her work focuses on British sexological history.

Reviews

[Althea Lazzaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essays are a little hit or miss so far, but the good ones are really good.