Sexuality in Europe : a twentieth-century history / Dagmar Herzog.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herzog, Dagmar, 1961-

Series:

New approaches to European history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex--Europe--History--20th century.

Sex.

History.

Europe.

Physical Description:

viii, 230 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Summary:

"This is a fascinating and accessible new account of the tumultuous history of sexuality in Europe from the waning of Victorianism to the collapse of Communism and the rise of European Islam. Although the twentieth century is often called 'the century of sex' and seen as an era of increasing liberalization, Dagmar Herzog instead emphasizes the complexities and contradictions in sexual desires and behaviors, the ambivalences surrounding sexual freedom and the difficulties encountered in securing sexual rights. Incorporating the most recent scholarship on a broad range of conceptual problems and national contexts, the book investigates the shifting fortunes of marriage and prostitution, contraception and abortion, queer and straight existence. It analyzes sexual violence in war and peace, the promotion of sexual satisfaction in fascist and democratic societies, the role of eugenics and disability, the politicization and commercialization of sex, and processes of secularization and religious renewal"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Reconceiving sexuality, 1900-1914 : Prostitution, venereal disease, and the double standard

Theorizing desire

Separating sex from reproduction : contraception and abortion

Eugenics

Rethinking sexual orientation

2. State interventions, 1914-1945 : World War I and its aftermath : violence and opportunity

Facism : masculinism and reproduction

Nazism : human engineering and the promise of pleasure

Democratic welfare states : liberality and ambivalence

Holocaust and World War II

3. Cold War cultures, 1945-1965 : Mass violence and the return to domesticity

Conservatism, east and west

The rise of romance

Ambivalence about contraception

The persecution of homosexuals

The rise of reform

4. Pleasure and rebellion, 1965-1980 : The market of desire

Revolutionary theories

Changing the law

Heterosexual disillusionment

Homosexual liberation

The turn inward

5. Partnerships and practices, 1980-2010 : HIV/AIDS

The fall of communism

Postfacist lessons in human rights

Islam and the sexual borders of Europe

Romantic liberality versus new conservatisms.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521870962

0521870968

9780521691437

0521691435

OCLC:

711864776

Online:

Cover image