HIST 266YSexuality and Violence in Nineteenth-Century America

3 credits · History · Penn State

HIST/ WMNST 266Y explores the social and cultural history of sexuality and violence in the United States during the nineteenth century. Both sexuality and violence are extremely broad topics, and the course will focus on a few intriguing elements of sexuality and violence, including courtship, prostitution, the early popular culture of sports, slavery, military violence, exploitative journalism, and sexuality and violence as metaphor. The course also examines the "creation" of homosexuality in the nineteenth century, and manner in which masculinity has been historically constructed.