History of sex in Early America

explain and analyze how ideas about sex and sexuality evolved during the colonial period. In particular, you should explain the efforts by political and religious figures to construct a uniformed code of conduct when it came to sex, as well as the ways in which different groupsand individuals crafted opposing meanings, and at other times, led lives that undermined these social visions and gender constructs.

Readings/Citations:

• Jeffrey Weeks, “The Social Construction of Sexuality,” Major Problems in the History of American Sexuality(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).

• John D’Emilio and Estelle Freeman, “Cultural Diversity in the Era of Settlement” Major Problems in the History of American Sexuality (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).

• Kathleen Brown, “Changed into the Fashion of Man: The Politics of Sexual Difference in Colonial Virginia,” Journal of American Sexuality, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1995).

• Richard Godbeer, “Sodomy In Colonial New England,” William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2 (1995) 259-286.

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