Hera Cook
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199252183
- eISBN:
- 9780191719240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252183.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The anxiety regarding masturbation peaked in the early interwar period at which time shame was regarded as a natural result of the practice of masturbation even by sexual reformers. In this period, ...
More
The anxiety regarding masturbation peaked in the early interwar period at which time shame was regarded as a natural result of the practice of masturbation even by sexual reformers. In this period, any manual contact with the genital of the self or a sexual partner was defined as masturbation in the sex manuals. Male sexual dominance was the norm and Freudian concepts of the shift from clitoral to vaginal sexual responsiveness in women were deployed to reconstruct a new account of women's sexuality as active but still oriented toward sexual intercourse. A contemporary response to D. H. Lawrence is considered.Less
The anxiety regarding masturbation peaked in the early interwar period at which time shame was regarded as a natural result of the practice of masturbation even by sexual reformers. In this period, any manual contact with the genital of the self or a sexual partner was defined as masturbation in the sex manuals. Male sexual dominance was the norm and Freudian concepts of the shift from clitoral to vaginal sexual responsiveness in women were deployed to reconstruct a new account of women's sexuality as active but still oriented toward sexual intercourse. A contemporary response to D. H. Lawrence is considered.
Maureen Sabine
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251650
- eISBN:
- 9780823253043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251650.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Chapter 2 analyzes the representation of Anglican missionary nuns in Black Narcissus, and argues that while these sisters have been critiqued as agents of British and Christian imperialism in India, ...
More
Chapter 2 analyzes the representation of Anglican missionary nuns in Black Narcissus, and argues that while these sisters have been critiqued as agents of British and Christian imperialism in India, they have not been studied as women contending with the psychosexual pressures of the celibate religious life. The visually stunning flashbacks in this Powell and Pressburger film reveal the turbulent desires hidden beneath the veil; demonstrate the dangers of the emotional repression of sexuality; trace an emergent counter dynamics of sublimation; and elevate erotic memories into flashes of spiritual illumination. This chapter goes on to suggest how Deborah Kerr's fire-and-ice screen image embodies the tensions of sexual repression, attraction, and sublimation that are examined not only in Black Narcissus, but less successfully, in two later 1957 films, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and Sea Wife.Less
Chapter 2 analyzes the representation of Anglican missionary nuns in Black Narcissus, and argues that while these sisters have been critiqued as agents of British and Christian imperialism in India, they have not been studied as women contending with the psychosexual pressures of the celibate religious life. The visually stunning flashbacks in this Powell and Pressburger film reveal the turbulent desires hidden beneath the veil; demonstrate the dangers of the emotional repression of sexuality; trace an emergent counter dynamics of sublimation; and elevate erotic memories into flashes of spiritual illumination. This chapter goes on to suggest how Deborah Kerr's fire-and-ice screen image embodies the tensions of sexual repression, attraction, and sublimation that are examined not only in Black Narcissus, but less successfully, in two later 1957 films, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and Sea Wife.
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784207
- eISBN:
- 9780804784870
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784207.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter examines two intensely psychological stories of women whose lives appear to be damaged and even destroyed by the forces of sexual repression: Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853) and Eliza ...
More
This chapter examines two intensely psychological stories of women whose lives appear to be damaged and even destroyed by the forces of sexual repression: Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853) and Eliza Kazan's film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). It argues that Brontë's and Kazan's interactions with their respective moral censors were marked less by victimization and oppression than by stimulation and inspiration. Both artists were, in the end, paradoxically motivated by the moral complaints lodged against them to communicate their ideas in subtler, richer, and more powerful ways.Less
This chapter examines two intensely psychological stories of women whose lives appear to be damaged and even destroyed by the forces of sexual repression: Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853) and Eliza Kazan's film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). It argues that Brontë's and Kazan's interactions with their respective moral censors were marked less by victimization and oppression than by stimulation and inspiration. Both artists were, in the end, paradoxically motivated by the moral complaints lodged against them to communicate their ideas in subtler, richer, and more powerful ways.
Leo Bersani
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226579627
- eISBN:
- 9780226579931
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226579931.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gay and Lesbian Studies
This chapter focuses on Michel Foucault's superficially counter-intuitive attack on what he calls the “repressive hypothesis” concerning sex. The accepted idea, which Foucault sets out to reverse, is ...
More
This chapter focuses on Michel Foucault's superficially counter-intuitive attack on what he calls the “repressive hypothesis” concerning sex. The accepted idea, which Foucault sets out to reverse, is that humans have been living, for at least three centuries, in a regime of sexual repression, one in which sex, subjected to general rules of prohibition, censorship, and denial, has been reduced to invisibility and silence. For Foucault, the stakes in the exercise of power are much higher than sexual freedom or sexual repression. He is interested in considerably more than drawing people's attention to the paradoxical relation between the control of our sexuality and the apparent freedom with which we are encouraged to talk about sex.Less
This chapter focuses on Michel Foucault's superficially counter-intuitive attack on what he calls the “repressive hypothesis” concerning sex. The accepted idea, which Foucault sets out to reverse, is that humans have been living, for at least three centuries, in a regime of sexual repression, one in which sex, subjected to general rules of prohibition, censorship, and denial, has been reduced to invisibility and silence. For Foucault, the stakes in the exercise of power are much higher than sexual freedom or sexual repression. He is interested in considerably more than drawing people's attention to the paradoxical relation between the control of our sexuality and the apparent freedom with which we are encouraged to talk about sex.
James A. Steintrager
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231151580
- eISBN:
- 9780231540872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231151580.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Examines how libertines transformed institutions that were subject to enlightened critique such as convents, monasteries, and harems, and turned them into idealized spaces for the organization of ...
More
Examines how libertines transformed institutions that were subject to enlightened critique such as convents, monasteries, and harems, and turned them into idealized spaces for the organization of pleasure. Subsequently looks at how libertines rejected projects for the organization and control of prostitution as restrictions on the autonomy of pleasure.Less
Examines how libertines transformed institutions that were subject to enlightened critique such as convents, monasteries, and harems, and turned them into idealized spaces for the organization of pleasure. Subsequently looks at how libertines rejected projects for the organization and control of prostitution as restrictions on the autonomy of pleasure.
Michael G. Cronin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780719086137
- eISBN:
- 9781781704707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719086137.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the emergence of psychoanalytic thought in the twentieth century and the historical development of the notion of sexuality. It examines the Freudian libidinal theory model, ...
More
This chapter discusses the emergence of psychoanalytic thought in the twentieth century and the historical development of the notion of sexuality. It examines the Freudian libidinal theory model, which re-conceptualised desire and stated that human subjectivity is produced by a struggle between opposing forces of sexual desire and sexual repression.Less
This chapter discusses the emergence of psychoanalytic thought in the twentieth century and the historical development of the notion of sexuality. It examines the Freudian libidinal theory model, which re-conceptualised desire and stated that human subjectivity is produced by a struggle between opposing forces of sexual desire and sexual repression.
Susan G. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042614
- eISBN:
- 9780252051456
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042614.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
After his break with Kinsey, Legman aimed to make a place for himself among New York City intellectuals as a full-time writer and editor on topics of sex. Between 1946 and 1948, he was at work ...
More
After his break with Kinsey, Legman aimed to make a place for himself among New York City intellectuals as a full-time writer and editor on topics of sex. Between 1946 and 1948, he was at work drafting Love & Death, a series of essays on the effects of censorship and repression on American culture. Love & Death was an early foray into the criticism of mass culture and an early content analysis of comic books, detective fiction, and stereotypes of women in mass culture. In it Legman argued that the repression of sex in mass culture inevitably led to a sick and violent society. This chapter shows Legman developing and circulating his essays among New York’s writers and editors, unpacks his negative critique of mass culture, and presents the responses of some of his prominent readers. Although the book was rejected by several dozen publishers, Legman got attention for his views. Through Fredric Wertham, one of the principal psychiatrists in New York City, Legman gave a public lecture on psychoanalytic approaches to comic books. Also discussed is Legman’s marriage to his first wife, Beverley Keith, and the salons they held at their tiny house in the Bronx.Less
After his break with Kinsey, Legman aimed to make a place for himself among New York City intellectuals as a full-time writer and editor on topics of sex. Between 1946 and 1948, he was at work drafting Love & Death, a series of essays on the effects of censorship and repression on American culture. Love & Death was an early foray into the criticism of mass culture and an early content analysis of comic books, detective fiction, and stereotypes of women in mass culture. In it Legman argued that the repression of sex in mass culture inevitably led to a sick and violent society. This chapter shows Legman developing and circulating his essays among New York’s writers and editors, unpacks his negative critique of mass culture, and presents the responses of some of his prominent readers. Although the book was rejected by several dozen publishers, Legman got attention for his views. Through Fredric Wertham, one of the principal psychiatrists in New York City, Legman gave a public lecture on psychoanalytic approaches to comic books. Also discussed is Legman’s marriage to his first wife, Beverley Keith, and the salons they held at their tiny house in the Bronx.
Axel Nissen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226586663
- eISBN:
- 9780226586687
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226586687.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of ...
More
The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of matrimony—if at all. And yet, a wealth of evidence contradicting this idea has been hiding in plain sight for close to a century. This book turns to the novels and short stories of Victorian America to uncover the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men. Its examination of the literature of the period brings to light a forgotten genre: the fiction of romantic friendship. Delving into works by Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, and others, the book identifies the genre's unique features and explores the connections between romantic friendships in literature and in real life. Situating love between men at the heart of Victorian culture, it alters our understanding of the American literary canon, and, with its deep insights into the emotional and intellectual life of the period, also offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America's attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.Less
The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of matrimony—if at all. And yet, a wealth of evidence contradicting this idea has been hiding in plain sight for close to a century. This book turns to the novels and short stories of Victorian America to uncover the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men. Its examination of the literature of the period brings to light a forgotten genre: the fiction of romantic friendship. Delving into works by Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, and others, the book identifies the genre's unique features and explores the connections between romantic friendships in literature and in real life. Situating love between men at the heart of Victorian culture, it alters our understanding of the American literary canon, and, with its deep insights into the emotional and intellectual life of the period, also offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America's attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.
Lisa Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814790571
- eISBN:
- 9780814790595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814790571.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter continues social exploration through fieldwork to examine actually existing market conditions of queer cultural production at the crossroads of industrial and queer independent sectors. ...
More
This chapter continues social exploration through fieldwork to examine actually existing market conditions of queer cultural production at the crossroads of industrial and queer independent sectors. It narrates a field study designed to work against a “commercial repressive hypothesis,” the idea that the history of commerce in queer cultural production is a history of repression. The chapter mainly draws from Michel Foucault's writing on the sexual repressive hypothesis (SRH), the notion that contends that the history of sexuality in the West is a history of sexual repression with cumulative nods toward liberation, as liberationists have undone, first, the religious, then the carceral, and finally the medical ties that bind in the modern period. The chapter also looks at Foucault's The History of Sexuality (1986), where he argues, contrary to the SRH, that modern Western sexuality is in fact a history of the proliferation of sexual discourses, including liberationist ones.Less
This chapter continues social exploration through fieldwork to examine actually existing market conditions of queer cultural production at the crossroads of industrial and queer independent sectors. It narrates a field study designed to work against a “commercial repressive hypothesis,” the idea that the history of commerce in queer cultural production is a history of repression. The chapter mainly draws from Michel Foucault's writing on the sexual repressive hypothesis (SRH), the notion that contends that the history of sexuality in the West is a history of sexual repression with cumulative nods toward liberation, as liberationists have undone, first, the religious, then the carceral, and finally the medical ties that bind in the modern period. The chapter also looks at Foucault's The History of Sexuality (1986), where he argues, contrary to the SRH, that modern Western sexuality is in fact a history of the proliferation of sexual discourses, including liberationist ones.