American sexual character : sex, gender, and national identity in the Kinsey reports / Miriam G. Reumann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reumann, Miriam G., 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex--United States.

Sex.

Gender identity--United States.

Gender identity.

Institute for Sex Research. Sexual behavior in the human female.

Institute for Sex Research.

Kinsey, Alfred C. (Alfred Charles), 1894-1956. Sexual behavior in the human male.

Kinsey, Alfred C.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (308 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When Alfred Kinsey's massive studies Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female appeared in 1948 and 1953, their detailed data spurred an unprecedented public discussion of the nation's sexual practices and ideologies. As they debated what behaviors were normal or average, abnormal or deviant, Cold War Americans also celebrated and scrutinized the state of their nation, relating apparent changes in sexuality to shifts in its political structure, economy, and people. American Sexual Character employs the studies and the myriad responses they evoked to examine national debates about sexuality, gender, and Americanness after World War II. Focusing on the mutual construction of postwar ideas about national identity and sexual life, this wide-ranging, shrewd, and lively analysis explores the many uses to which these sex surveys were put at a time of extreme anxiety about sexual behavior and its effects on the nation. Looking at real and perceived changes in masculinity, female sexuality, marriage, and homosexuality, Miriam G. Reumann develops the notion of "American sexual character," sexual patterns and attitudes that were understood to be uniquely American and to reflect contemporary transformations in politics, social life, gender roles, and culture. She considers how apparent shifts in sexual behavior shaped the nation's workplaces, homes, and families, and how these might be linked to racial and class differences.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. "Sexual Order In Our Nation" American Sexuality And National Character In The Postwar United States

Two. "A Missing Sense Of Maleness" Male Heterosexuality, Sexual Behavior In The Human Male, And The Crisis Of American Masculinity

Three. "Much The Same Desires As Men" Sexual Behavior In The Human Female And The "American Woman"

Four. "I'M A Much Better Citizen Than If I Were Single" Remaking Postwar Marriage And Reconfiguring Marital Sexuality

Five. "An Age Of Sexual Ambiguity" Homosexuality And National Character In The Postwar United States

Epilogue. "All America Is One Big Orgone Box" American Sexual Character Revisited

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-286) and index.

ISBN:

9786612759215

9781282759213

1282759213

9780520930049

0520930045

9781598755183

1598755188

OCLC:

475938106