LESSON 2: Gender and Sexuality Across Time

• Discuss the historical roots of our understanding of gender and sexuality

• Show appreciation of how this understanding evolved through time affected various aspect of
human life.

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Gender History

The history of gender has proved an integral part of the study of the past. It has brought new
perspectives, discovered new data, opened up valuable new areas for enquiry, generated new debates,
and simultaneously established itself as an essential component of all forms of holistic analysis.
Women's historians and scholars have made the differentiation between the terms “gender” and “sex.”
Sex was determined to be the biological makeup of an individual, while gender was determined to be
the chosen identity of an individual.

Since the 1960s, when the initially small field first achieved a measure of acceptance, it has gone
through a number of different phases, each with its own challenges and outcomes, but always making
an impact of some kind on the historical discipline. The history of masculinity emerged as a specialty in
the 1990s, evidenced by numerous studies of men in groups, and how concepts of masculinity shape
their values and behavior. Through history, issues of sexuality and gender have been recently politicized.

Likewise, the ancient Romans had a complicated view of sexuality and gender identity. Unlike in
many classical societies, daughters could take on some of the roles of a son if no male heir were present.
And the Romans view on homosexual activity varied by place and context through the empire. One of
the major reasons for the success of women‟s history has been its inclusion within a wider scholarly
move by historians into social and cultural history. The tides and times were favorable to the
change. Once a narrow political history was gradually widened and a mechanistic economic history
was rejected in favor of a broader approach, then the history of women - and logically therefore also of
men - was an obvious component of an ecumenical social history.

Rather than a story of victimization, women's history could be reinterpreted as an epic of

resistance. Women were seen not as passive sufferers but as active in empowering their own lives -
despite the sundry cultural, theological, political and even legal fetters that hampered them. Gender
history, moreover, has so far been notable for raising yet more analytical problems rather than for
adopting one settled viewpoint. Such an achievement is, of course, an index of vitality. The exploration
of historical gender is generating new debates, not new doctrine - new arguments, not new consensus.
Historians who argue that gender roles are socially constructed do not have to imply that men and
women perform parrot-fashion on the strength of conduct books. Human socialization is much more
complex and variegated than that.

One development that has been signalled within gender history itself is the quest to develop
more complex models of social and gender relationships. Gender history is thus not a cuckoo in the
nest. It is instead a logical development, signaling the explicit consideration of men and of gender
relationships. In particular, it indicates that man‟ is no longer deemed to be an ahistorical concept that
is beyond analysis. Certainly, to ignore gender is to sacrifice depth, breadth, realism.

. In particular, Michel Foucault , a French historian and philosopher, criticizes the "repressive
hypothesis", the idea that western society suppressed sexuality from the 17th to the mid-20th century
due to the rise of capitalism and bourgeois society. Foucault argues that discourse on sexuality in fact
proliferated during this period, during which experts began to examine sexuality in a scientific manner,
encouraging people to confess their sexual feelings and actions. According to Foucault, in the 18th and
19th centuries society took an increasing interest in sexualities that did not fit within the marital bond:
the "world of perversion" that includes the sexuality of children, the mentally ill, the criminal and the
homosexual, while by the 19th century, sexuality was being readily explored both through confession
and scientific enquiry.

Foucault argues that we generally read the history of sexuality since the 18th century in terms of
what Foucault calls the "repressive hypothesis." The repressive hypothesis supposes that since the rise
of the bourgeoisie, any expenditure of energy on purely pleasurable activities has been frowned upon.
As a result, sex has been treated as a private, practical affair that only properly takes place between a
husband and a wife. Sex outside these confines is not simply prohibited, but repressed. That is, there is
not simply an effort to prevent extra-marital sex, but also an effort to make it unspeakable and
unthinkable. Discourse on sexuality is confined to marriage. We cannot free ourselves from this
repression simply by means of theory: we must learn to be more open about our sexuality, to talk about
it, to enjoy it. Discourse on sexuality, seen as a revolt against a repressive system, becomes a matter of
political liberation rather than intellectual analysis.

Exercise No. 2

Handwritten/No erasures/Copy and answer.

Test I. Fill up the blank/s for the correct answer/s.

1._____ was determined to be the biological makeup of an individual, while gender was determined to
be the chosen identity of an individual.

2.Through history, issues of sexuality and gender have been recently _______.

3.Unlike in many classical societies, _______ could take on some of the roles of a son if no male heir
were present.

4. In particular, ______, a French historian and philosopher, criticizes the "repressive hypothesis."

5.________ the idea that western society suppressed sexuality from the 17th to the mid-20th century
due to the rise of capitalism and bourgeois society.

6. The _____ hypothesis supposes that since the rise of the bourgeoisie, any expenditure of energy on
purely pleasurable activities has been frowned upon.

7.________ on sexuality, seen as a revolt against a repressive system, becomes a matter of political
liberation rather than intellectual analysis.
8.By the 19th century, sexuality was being readily explored both through confession and ______
enquiry.

9.Gender ______ itself is the quest to develop more complex models of social and gender
relationships.

10.According to _____ , in the 18th and 19th centuries society took an increasing interest in sexualities
that did not fit within the marital bond.

Test II. Essay. Explain your thoughts concisely.

Discuss gender history with holistic analysis.