Sex seen : the emergence of modern sexuality in America / Sharon R. Ullman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ullman, Sharon R. (Sharon Rena), 1955- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex customs--United States--History--20th century.

Sex customs.

Sexual ethics--United States--History--20th century.

Sexual ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1997]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Sex Seen provides a complex and intriguing account of the changes that have taken place in the social construction of sexuality during the past century. Focusing on Sacramento, California, at the dawn of the twentieth century, Sharon Ullman juxtaposes early cinema, vaudeville performances, and popular newspapers and magazines with insights drawn from close interpretations of transcripts from Sacramento court cases. She demonstrates how attitudes that emerged in the popular discourse--ideas about gender roles, female desire, prostitution, divorce, and homosexuality--often found complex and contradictory expression in the courts. As judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and juries all weighed in with differing opinions, the courtroom itself became a site of multiple discourses that attempted to make sense of a growing sexual chaos. In tracing the birth of modern sexuality, Ullman chronicles the dynamics of social change during a unique cultural moment and explains the shifts in the sexual ethos of turn-of-the-century America. Instead of telling the familiar story of steadily increasing liberation of sexual urges, Ullman chronicles the complex confusions and negotiations of an increasingly public sexual discourse. She relates how laws against cross-dressing gained force at the same time that female impersonation became popular in vaudeville acts, how images of prostitutes were changed by the commercialization of the female body in advertising and film, and how visible expression of female desire was submerged in rape and divorce proceedings. Ullman blends social history, textual analysis, and film and performance criticism to explain how sexuality and desire became an essential part of personal identity in this century. Her keen, accessible account of a community on the brink of the modern era offers a provocative interpretation of the seeds

of our sexual present.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Pulling off the Bedclothes

2. The Adjustable Bed

3. The Twentieth-Century Way

4. Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce

5. The Soubrettes Slide

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 07. Jul 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780585075051

0585075050

9780520919433

0520919432

OCLC:

1163878414