By Scott McLemee
Last week, Intellectual Affairs gave the recent cable TV miniseries “Sex: The Revolution†a nod of recognition, however qualified, for its possible educational value. The idea that sex has a history is not, as such, self-evident. The series covers the changes in attitudes and norms between roughly 1950 and 1990 through interviews and archival footage. Most of this flies past at a breakneck speed, alas. The past becomes a hostage of the audience’s presumably diminished attention span.
With that consideration in mind, you tend to watch “Sex: The Revolution†with a certain indulgence — as entertainment with benefits, so to speak. Unfortunately, the makers stopped short. They neglected to interview scholars who might have provided more insight than a viewer might glean from soundbites by demi-celebrities. And so we end up with a version of history not too different from the one presented by Philip Larkin in the poem “Annus Mirabilis†—
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(Which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles’ first LP.
— except without the irony. A belief that people in the old days must have been repressed is taken for granted. Was this a good thing or not? Phyllis Schlafly and reasonable people may disagree; but the idea itself is common coin of public discourse.
But suppose a television network made a different sort of program — one incorporating parts of what one might learn from reading the scholarship on the history of sex. What sense of the past might then emerge?
(more. . .)
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history,
media,
sex
A major archive of papers relating to the early gay-rights movement in America has been donated to the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division. The Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs consist of letters, photographs, handbills, manuscripts, publications, and ephemera accumulated over nearly 50 years by the late activist and writer Gittings (1932–2007) and her life partner, photojournalist and author Lahusen.
Gittings’s papers document her activities on behalf of gay and lesbian rights from 1958, when she founded the East Coast chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian organization. Her writings influenced the American Psychiatric Association’s December 1973 removal of homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. As a longtime leader of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force (now the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table), Gittings was influential in developing programs to highlight the availability of gay materials for use in libraries. She was awarded an ALA honorary membership in 2003.
Lahusen’s extensive photographic collection includes images of early protesters, portraits of prominent lesbians, and photos chronicling gay activism through 2005. “Barbara and I always wanted our papers and photographs to be cared for and made available in a secure, world-class repository,†Lahusen said. “And we wanted our letters and photos to be surrounded by those of friends and colleagues in the cause. The New York Public Library’s marvelous archive division was the obvious choice.â€
“The collection donated by Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen,†said NYPL President Paul LeClerc, “is a remarkable firsthand chronicle detailing the battle of gays and lesbians to overcome the prejudice and restrictions that were prevalent prior to the activism and protest movements that started in the 1960s.â€
[via fellow librarian badfaggot]
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tes,
The Marketplace,
transgender
From the blog Classically Liberal:
Below is an interesting press release from the University of Leeds. A new Ph.D. thesis by Jenny Skipp “examined, catalogued and categorised every known erotic text in eighteenth-century Britain.†Ms. Skipp was rather surprised to discover how vast a quantity of pornography was circulating in England at that time.
Not only was there a huge amount of it but it was far more widely available and consumed than previously known. As the University press release notes, “much of this work was cheap and widely available.†It was not restricted to just the upper classes as was widely assumed in the past (an assumption I myself have held erroneously before as well).
I find this interesting because the more fields I study the more I am convinced that the the bulk of Westerners (Americans in particular but not exclusively) have been rather wrong about many assumptions regarding sexuality. It is a myth of a gigantic proportions to assume that past Western generations were generally chaste and somewhat puritanical. That has never been the case. Even in Puritanical Massachusetts, under the Pilgrim, there was widespread debauchery. Enough to make the local bishop blush especially when he wasn’t directly involved.
Fundamentalist Christians, who in reality are very guilt ridden about sex and very anti-sexual (despite protestations to the contrary), have claimed that their view of sexuality was the dominant one and that in the 1960s evil “liberals†came along with the “sexual revolution†and introduced “Godless immorality†to the West. Having grown up with those people, and attending their schools, one thing I quickly realized is that if you were to assume the opposite of everything they say you have a very high chance of being right. They bamboozle themselves and others.
(Read more...)
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sex,
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The Marketplace
By Norimitsu Onishi
Friday, March 2, 2007
TOKYO: A denial by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the Japanese military had forced foreign women into sexual slavery during World War II is a clear sign that the government is preparing to reject a 1993 government statement that acknowledged the military’s role in setting up brothels and forcing, either directly or indirectly, women into sexual slavery.
That declaration also offered an apology to the women, euphemistically called “comfort women.”
“There is no evidence to prove there was coercion, nothing to support it,” Abe told reporters Thursday. “So, in respect to this declaration, you have to keep in mind that things have changed greatly.”
His remarks came as the U.S. House of Representatives has begun debating a resolution that would call on Tokyo to “apologize for and acknowledge” the military’s role in wartime sex slavery.
(more…)
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If my last post was a bit too heavy, you may enjoy this one more. Radar Online has a fun little story on the history of breasts and their coverings over the last century. It includes pictures.
You’re welcome.
(those are Dita’s, in case you’re wondering)
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r,
The Marketplace
Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) has introduced what is now *House Resolution 121*, which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives of the United States that the Government of Japan should formally acknowledge and accept responsibility for it’s sexual enslavement of “comfort women” during it’s occupation of Asia in the first half of the 20th century. The majority of the 200,000 victims were Korean girls and women, many of them in their teens.
The resolution is sponsored so far by Representatives Edward R. Royce (CA-40), Christopher H. Smith (NJ-4), Diane E. Watson (CA-33), David Wu (OR-1), Phil Hare (IL-17), and Delegate Madaleine Bordallo (GU). Previous similar efforts were blocked successfully by powerful lobbyists for the Japanese government and those who believe that such a resolution would damage relations with Tokyo.
A hearing on this resolution is scheduled for Thursday, February 15t.
Learn how you can help by visiting Justice for Comfort Women.
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