American Sexual Histories

The second edition of American Sexual Histories features an updated collection of sixteen articles and their corresponding primary sources that investigate issues related to human sexuality in America from the colonial era to the present day.

• Fully updated with ten new chapters, featuring recently published essays by prominent scholars in the field
• Provides readers with the source documents that historians have analyzed in their articles
• Allows readers to see how historians craft arguments based on available sources
• Encourages readers to evaluate historical documents, test the interpretations of historians, and draw their own conclusions

Notes on Contributors x

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1
Elizabeth Reis

Part I Early America 9

1 Bodies in Doubt: Intersex in Early America 11
Elizabeth Reis

Documents:

1.1 Thomas/Thomasine Hall, 1629 25

1.2 James Parsons, A Mechanical and Critical Enquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites, 1741 27

1.3 Jane Sharp, The Midwives Book, 1671 29

2 Transgressive Male Sex in Early America 34
Thomas A. Foster

Documents:

2.1 Bestiality Cases in New Haven, Connecticut, 1638–49 47

2.2 "Trunil Him well brother," 1751 52

3 Indian Women, French Women, and the Regulation of Sex 56
Jennifer M. Spear

Documents:

3.1 Journal of Diron d’Artaguiette, 1722–3 73

3.2 Duclos to Pontchartrain, December 25, 1715 75

3.3 Lamothe Cadillac to Pontchartrain, October 26, 1713 77

3.4 Louisiana's Code Noir (1724) 79

4 Rape and Sexual Power in Early America 82
Sharon Block

Documents:

4.1 Testimony against David Clark, 1764 95

4.2 Ephraim Wheeler's Rape Trial, 1805 96

5 The Overflowing of Friendship 101
Richard Godbeer

Documents:

5.1 Letters of Robert Treat Paine, 1749 114

5.2 Letters of Daniel Webster, 1801–5 116

6 Sex Among the Rabble 122
Clare A. Lyons

Documents:

6.1 Philadelphia Magdalen Society, Minutes, 1807-10 134

6.2 Maria; or, the Seduction, 1796 137

6.3 The Histories of Some of the Penitents in the Magdalen-House, 1760 139

7 White Women, Black Men, and Adultery in the Antebellum South 147
Martha Hodes

Document:

7.1 Lewis Bourne Divorce Petition, 1823-5 161

8 Obscenity, Sex Education, and Medical Democracy in the Antebellum United States 165
April Haynes

Documents:

8.1 Frederick Hollick, The Marriage Guide, 1850 177

8.2 Letters to the Editor about Dr. Frederick Hollick, 1845 183

Part II Modern America 187

9 Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America 189
Peggy Pascoe

Documents:

9.1 "Aoki – Engaged to Daughter of Prelate," 1909 202

9.2 "Emery Girl Ready to Marry the Japanese," 1909 204

9.3 "Aoki Expects to Wed in Portland," 1909 205

9.4 "Whose Business Is It?" 1909 206

9.5 "A Disgusting Spectacle," 1909 206

9.6 "Aoki's Inamorata Flits Northward," 1909 207

10 Hysteria: The Revolt of the "Good Girl" 211
Elizabeth Lunbeck

Document:

10.1 The Case of Miss A, 1913-14 224

11 When Abortion Was Illegal 230
Leslie J. Reagan

Documents:

11.1 A Maryland Abortionist Gets No Pardon, 1904 243

11.2 Dying Declarations Obtained in Abortion Case as Condition to Rendering Aid, 1909 244

11.3 Comments of "Esther E.," 1920 245

12 Contraceptive Consumers 247
Andrea Tone

Documents:

12.1 Advertisements for Lysol, 1932, 1933 260

12.2 Facts and Frauds in Women's Hygiene, 1936 262

12.3 What Do the American Women Think about Birth Control? 1938 264

12.4 The Dilex Speech, 1938 268

13 Lesbian Pulp Novels and US Lesbian Identity 270
Yvonne Keller

Documents:

13.1 Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness, 1928 285

13.2 Tereska Torres, Women's Barracks, 1950 288

13.3 Ann Bannon, Beebo Brinker, 1962 291

14 Sex Change and the Popular Press 294
Joanne Meyerowitz

Documents:

14.1 Girl Changes into Man, 1936 309

14.2 Psychopathia Transexualis, 1949 311

14.3 New Sex Switches: Behind the Sensational Headlines Loom Unpleasant Medical Facts, 1954 316

14.4 I Want to Become a Woman, 1956 317

15 The Population Bomb and the Sexual Revolution 320
Rickie Solinger

Documents:

15.1 The Slavery of Sex Freedom: America’s Moral Crisis, 1957 335

15.2 Are We Still Stereotyping the Unmarried Mother? 1960 338

15.3 Population Crisis: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Foreign

Aid Expenditures of the Committee on Government Operations, 1965 341

16 Marketing Safe Sex 345
Jennifer Brier

Documents:

16.1 "Can We Talk?" 1983 361

16.2 "Information for People of Color, 1987" 363

16.3 Promoting Condoms for Gay Men, 1987 364

Source Acknowledgments 368

Index 372

Elizabeth Reis is Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex (2009) and Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England (1997). The second edition of American Sexual Histories features an updated collection of sixteen articles by prominent historians and their corresponding primary sources that investigate issues related to human sexuality in America from the colonial era to the present day. Reflecting the myriad ways historians interpret and analyze sexuality and sexual trends, the essays offer in-depth exploration of topics such as contraception, prostitution, interracial relationships, same-sex desire, reproductive politics, and intersex and transgender history. Taken as a whole, the essays richly illustrate how the evolution of sexuality in America is a product of an ongoing negotiation of moral values and shifting political and economic circumstances.

The chapters are arranged chronologically and include introductions by editor Elizabeth Reis which lend clarity and add historical context to the major articles and the supporting documents that follow. The carefully selected couplings of essays and primary sources allow readers to evaluate historical documents for themselves, test the interpretations of historians, and draw independent conclusions. Both scholarly and highly accessible, American Sexual Histories offers illuminating insights into the complex evolution of sex and sexuality in America.

“A comprehensive, eye-opening collection of essays and meaningful documents. Elizabeth Reis forces us to reevaluate what we think we know about sex in American history.” – Nancy Isenberg, Louisiana State University

“This terrific book does two things at once. It shows why sexuality has become such an important window onto the American past. And it illustrates concretely how primary sources are transformed into history.” – Ellen Herman, University of Oregon

“An extremely useful survey of sexual history in the United States, representing the diversity of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation, and featuring an excellent selection of primary documents.” – Susan Stryker, University of Arizona

“Although my students loved—and learned much—from the first edition of American Sexual Histories, the updated second edition is even better. Great primary sources—important and current historical scholarship—both challenging and absorbing. Highly teachable!” – Gail Bederman, Notre Dame University