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Homosexuality in the ‘Enlightenment’?
By Nailya Shamgunova Nailya is working on European conceptualisations of sexual diversity in South East Asia and Japan in the 17th century. France was the first European state to repeal its sodomy laws as far back as 1791. The event, which is now hailed by LGBTQ+ groups as a landmark, at first glance seems like a…
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“In their reckless lust they forget their sex” – LGBT history in the Middle Ages
by Tim Wingard – @Physiololgus Tim is a graduate of the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies. His research interests include issues of historical sexuality, the latin bestiary, and medieval travel writing. There is a tendency in popular histories and in the teaching of the subject at school to assume that the Middle Ages were an inherently heterosexual…
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The Case of Betty John – gender ambiguity in a late eighteenth century small-claims court
By Alex Wakelam – @A_Wakelam Alex is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of History. His thesis is entitled “Imprisonment for Debt and Women’s Financial Failure in the Long Eighteenth Century”. Before the eighteenth century, it was potentially possible to stand at the window of an English townhouse and gaze out across the milieu of different classes, ages, and ethnicities…
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4. Jean Marestan’s Sex Manual
By Sophie Turbutt (@Sophie_Turbutt) L‘Éducation Sexuelle was a popular sex manual written by French anarchist Jean Marestan in 1910. Marestan trained as a doctor but was forced to quit his studies due to financial hardship; instead, he joined a bohemian circle and wrote for anarchist journals. Harnessing his connections in the movement, he managed to…
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