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Article: National endogamy and double standards: sexuality and nationalism in East-Central Europe during the 19th century.(SECTION III REGIONAL ISSUES)
- Article from:
- Journal of Social History
- Article date:
- December 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Journal of Social History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During the "long nineteenth century," nationalism came to permeate all aspects of European society, including attitudes toward human sexuality. Both sexuality and nationalism are complex phenomena that overlap in myriad ways. However, national endogamy may be the most characteristically national of all possible sexual attributes: qualities such as chastity or fidelity, while frequently claimed as typical of a given national group, have religious and social dimensions independent of nationalism. An individual who makes nationality a decisive factor in selecting sexual partners, however, not only makes some concept of the nation a defining feature of sexual virtue, but ...