|
|
|
Changing Conceptions of Sexuality and Romance in Eighteenth-Century America
Ruth H. Bloch
|
MOST recent literature on sexuality has been about illicit, coercive,
or transgressive sexuality, concentrating on themes of diversity
and oppression.
1
My subject is instead sexual legitimacy broadly defined. By this
I mean much more than legal sanctions or explicit prescriptions.
While the formal rules governing sexual practices changed a little
during the colonial period, on the whole they remained consistent:
sex was sanctioned only in marriage, which meant that it had to
be monogamous, heterosexual, racially endogamous, and exclusive
of close kin. Even though we know that extramarital sex of many
kinds—masturbation, prostitution, fornication, homoeroticism—could
be allowed on a de facto basis, sexual activity outside marriage
never received explicit sanction. We also know that, in marriage,
forceful sexual aggression frequently received tacit permission
if not outright approval. Many scholars have focused on the prohibitions
or abuse; few have examined the aspirations. What was sex supposed
to be about? This is a question about meaning and ideals rather
than about practices and therefore becomes a cultural and intellectual
question rather than a social or legal one. |
1
|
|
Once we get into the realm of normative
sexual ideals we immediately encounter a closely related topic:
romantic love. Indeed, historians often conflate the two, depicting
idealized eroticism and romantic love as virtually synonymous.
2
The actual historical relationship of attitudes toward sex and conceptions
of romantic love is far more complicated. Love and sex have been
viewed in the past as much in tension as in harmony, even when conceived
in the normative framework of legitimate heterosexual courtship
and marriage. By tracing the growing (if never absolute) identification
of romantic love and marital sexuality over the course of the eighteenth
century, this article seeks to historicize what is often taken as
given. A second common oversimplification is to set in opposition
romantic and economic motivations to marry. Historians of the family
typically posit a transition in the early modern western world in
which love-based marriages formed by free individuals triumphed
over property-based marriages arranged by patriarchal families.
3
To overcome these misleading generalizations it is necessary to
attend more closely to broad changes in symbolic content and intellectual
understandings of idealized sexual representations. Delineating
several changes in attitudes toward legitimate marital sexuality
from the seventeenth century through the late eighteenth helps to
reveal the interrelationships of love, sex, and economic value in
early American culture. |
. . . |
There are about 13695 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|
