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Article: The Making of Victorian Sexuality.
- Article from:
- Journal of Social History
- Article date:
- December 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 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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In 1988 John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman published their one-volume history of sexuality in America, Intimate Matters. Their survey, intended for both students and a general audience, focused on specific issues, with a generous consideration of not only legal issues, but also racial and class habits. Michael Mason in his two volumes aims at a shorter time span and a more limited set of themes. The books focus entirely on intellectual, religious and medical debates about heterosexuality, both marital and pre-marital. Despite the focus on Victorian sexuality, most of Mason's evidence is drawn from pre-Victorian sources, confirming the rationalist and Romantic ideological ...