Subject Area: Women's and Gender Studies
This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: History

This course explores the history of sexualities in Western societies from the 18th century through to the present. We will consider the different meanings that have been assigned to sexed bodies since the Enlightenment and contemporary debates about the relationship between sexuality and gender. In addition to cataloguing the limits and possibilities of sexual identities in the modern period, we will also examine how the sexual body has been consistently subject to social control. Specific topics include reproduction, birth control, masturbation, homosexuality and prostitution. Taking sexuality as an index of broader social transformations across a range of comparative societies, this course demonstrates the benefits of an historical approach. This course is designed for students in History and in Women’s and Gender Studies.