Why Sex Matters: The Importance of Studying the History of Sexuality

Written at Wheelock College, under Professor Bridgette Sheridan, 2008

To try and write any history of mankind without addressing the most basic of human components, sexuality, is to create an incomplete and disassembled picture of history which lacks a basis and foundation to stand on. Sexuality is as essential to understanding humankind as the acts of breathing, eating, and dying. Without sexuality, there would be no human race, and no history to write. And yet, despite the inextricable ties that sexuality has to our very being, historians have often overlooked this trait as irrelevant. Sexuality itself has a rich history, which bears influence over our social developments, our politics, our economies and achievements. Jeffrey Weeks puts it concretely when he writes that

"It has always been possible to write about sexuality. But, to do so and be listened to, it has usually been necessary to work within the confines of an acceptable discourse. The authorized voices have been religious, medical, medico-moral, legal, psychological, pedagogical, and certainly "official." They have rarely been sensitive to the nuances of history or social variability...The really noteworthy point about the new sexual history lies in the fact that increasingly it is being recognized that far from being a minor adjunct to the mainstream of history, sexuality in its broadest sense has been at the heart of moral, social and political discourse. We cannot properly understand the past, let alone the present, unless we grasp that simple fact." 1 (Italics inserted)

While essentialism has generally been replaced with constructionism in modern thinking (the idea that sexuality is innate vs. the idea that it is a social construct), we must examine the patterns of thought of the past to discover the true facts under the limiting sources of historical writing.

Let us first examine the general concepts of sexuality in pre-Industrial times. In his
book 'Sexuality', Robert Nye explains how the shift into an industrial revolution forced a change of the interactions between men and women, and with the birth of 'private' and 'public' spheres, sexuality as an identity was created.

"In becoming more private, sexuality was becoming more a part of an individual's personal nature and therefore something for which he or she was responsible. But in becoming more tied to natural biological processes, it also became a more universal human condition, linking both sexes to certain inexorable laws." 2

The Victorian era of the 19th century saw a major shift in how people lived, with the creation of 'wage-employment'. Wage-based earnings quickly began to replace the older 'family-industry', where a family earned income from the sale of their own products or skills. The sweeping advances in science and technology were rendering many previously-private businesses obsolete, driving men from earning their own livelihood to going out into the 'public sphere' to sell their labor to these new industries. A consequence of this shift was that the family dynamic was shattered, and in it's place was born the 'private sphere', the home in which the woman was now expected (as the lesser sex) to maintain and raise a family.

As Industrialism pushed forward, creating greater advances to raise the quality of life of general mankind, the birth rate increased and populations bloomed. This was an era of great political changes, as European countries such as Germany and Italy were forming nations from
previously scattered provinces. As a result, countries were entering into numerous conflicts with other nations, and relied on the strength of their people for a secure identity. The strength of a nation was determined by the size and health of it's population. It is at this point that two differing views of the Victorian era come into play. While some historians view this time as one of sexual repression, others view it as the time in which the idea of sexuality was created. In truth, it was both.

Because public health became such a widespread concern, sexuality became a concern of those in positions of power. Any person whose sexual habits were considered 'abnormal' were thought to be degenerate and unhealthy. And degeneracy, by the nature of sexuality, could be spread like a disease and cripple a nation. Sexual normalcy was based on both religious and newfound 'scientific' laws which essentially supported only sex for the purpose of procreation (and thus the strengthening of the nation) as "normal". Sexuality was degenerate in nearly every tie to pleasure, or any tie to non-reproductive sex. In this way, sexuality was repressed, as 'sexual experts' appeared to formulate and label persons who practiced 'perversions'. At the same time, this categorization of sexuality, which had previously been a fairly ambigious idea, actually created the concept of one's sexuality. Where sex had formerly been an act, it was now being preached as an identity, an identity for which a man or woman could be labeled 'degenerate' and
be forced to live in shame for. One prime example is seen in the introduction to a memoir of a French nineteenth-century hermaphrodite named Herculine Barbin. In the forward, famed French 'philosophe' Michel Foucault writes

"The years from around 1860 to 1870 were precisely one of those periods when investigations of sexual identity were carried out with the most intensity, in an attempt not only to establish the true sex of hermaphrodites but also to identify, classify, and characterize the different types of perversions. In short, these investigations dealt with the problem of sexual anomalies in the individual and the race." 3

Hermaphroditism was considered a sexual degeneration, since it obstructed procreation. What was developed in the quest to define 'normal' (and subsequently acceptable) sexuality were the perversions. The perversions were labels created to define and "weed out" those with degraded sexual identities. They included prostitutes, who went against the 'complimentary' understanding of sexuality. Women were sexual only in response to the procreative needs of men, and any women who sought the sexual act outside the confines of marriage and family were abnormal. They were also seen as degenerative in that they were considered carriers of many sexual diseases, spread through indiscriminate sex with multiple partners, and threatened the health of otherwise productive men. The perversions were not limited to streetwalkers. Women who were overly emotional were labeled 'hysterics'. It was generally thought that prostitutes were more susceptible to hysteria because of their promiscuity (and degenerative nature). There was one professional named Briquet who did speak out against the illogical connection between sexuality and hysteria:

"In reflecting on the life led by these women and on the multiplicity of painful experiences and sensations to which they are prey, one will not be surprised that hysteria is so common among them...all this explains well enough the frequency of hysterical problems among them" 4

Unfortunately, this was not the prevalent line of thought in the 19th century. Homosexuals, long ostricised by the church, were now scientifically considered dangers to social well-being, along with sadists, masochists, exhibitionists, and all others who practiced any sort of sexual act outside the man-woman procreation standard.

Because sexuality had never before been a matter of public concern, the Enlightenment saw the creation of a number of new disciplines, including psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was created to study and "fix" the host of newly-defined degenerations, and was ranked next to the other medical advances of the day. What psychoanalysis stemmed from was the writings and theories of one important psychologist, Dr. Sigmund Freud. Although many of Freud's theories have failed to withstand the test of time, it is impossible to deny him as a central figure in the "normalization" of sexuality. In his 'Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality', he states

"Popular opinion has quite definite ideas about the nature and characteristics of this sexual instinct. It is generally understood to be absent in childhood, to set in at the time of puberty in connection with the process of coming to maturity and to be revealed in the manifestations of an irresistible attraction exercised by one sex upon the other; while its aim s presumed to be sexual union, or at all events actions leading in that direction. We have every reason to believe, however, that these views give a very false picture of the true situation. If we look into them more closely we shall find that they contain a number of errors, inaccuracies and hasty conclusions." 5

Freud did hold on to pre-established ideas concerning degeneration and what was considered "normal" sex, but he was the first to step forward as a sexual authority and proclaim sex to be far more complex and shaped by society than simply an innate drive. It is stemming from Freud's first foray into the realm of new thoughts that we have our modern concepts of sexuality.

To think historically about sexuality, one must first grasp how integral sexuality is to the course of all human history. Sexuality is one of the basest forces in our natures, and to ignore it as a historical force is to throw out much of the influence on our collective past. While the Victorian era saw both the creation of and repression of "sexuality", it is essential to find and consider all the changing historical trends of sex and gender to fully understand our past. For as Michel Foucault so eloquently wrote,

"At the bottom of sex, there is truth." 6

Sources:
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1 Jeffery Weeks, "Sexuality and History Revisited" (Sexualities in History, New York: Routledge, 2002.) Weeks points out the way in which historians have written about sexuality, gender, and family, and what factors affect these historical writings. Quote taken from pages 27-28.

2 Robert Nye, Sexuality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.) A compilation of topics on sexuality gathered from both primary and secondary sources, covering numerous points of interest on the development and influences of the historical documentation of sexuality. Quote taken from page 67, in the section concerning general thoughts about sexuality before the concept of an individual sexuality was fully solidified in society

3 Introduced by Michel Foucault, Herculine Barbin (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.) A translated memoir of a French 19th century hermaphrodite, compiled with modern interpretations of the sexual-historical importance of such a document. Quote taken from pages xi-xii.

4 Jann Matlock, Scenes of Seduction: Prostitution, Hysteria, and Reading Difference in Ninetheeth-Century France (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994). Quote taken from page 125 of Nye's Sexuality, as noted in footnote 5.

5 Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (New York: Avon Books, 1962) Freud's famous compilation of works concerning his theories of human sexuality, abnormalities, and treatments for degenerations. Quote taken from pages 21-22.

6 Introduced by Michel Foucault, Herculine Barbin (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.) Quote taken from page xi.