19-20 HS2326: Sex, Society and Identity in Britain, c. 1660-1815

Beginning with the Restoration of Charles II and ending in the ‘Regency’ period during the reign of George IV, this course examines how men and women’s perceptions of themselves were moulded by their families and wider society. It also explores the extent to which their experiences (as individuals or groups) were determined by gendered perceptions of sexual, racial, and class differences. It will also introduce you to concepts of law and justice in order to help you think about the ways that criminal, ecclesiastical and civil laws shaped (or were shaped by) dominant ideas about these differences. Overall, the course is designed to enable you to evaluate the relative merits and weaknesses of different historical explanations of continuity and change in gender history between 1660 and 1815.

Among the many topics covered, the course will explore medical and popular understandings of male and female minds and bodies, as well as aspects of male and female sexuality, same-sex relationships and the regulation of desire and prostitution. It will examine gendered experiences of courtship, marriage and separation, of family life and adolescence; discuss the gendered concepts of sin, crime, and juvenile delinquency and how these impacted on modes of punishment; engage with the pleasures and perils of new forms of shopping, fashion and entertainment for men and women; and consider the working lives of businesswomen, actresses, and prostitutes, as well as the gendered implications of professionalisation for medical pratctitioners such as male and female midwives.