The lives, letters, and “romantic friendship” shared between two women during the nineteenth century.
Early America
The Rape of Rufus? Sexual Violence against Enslaved Men
Rethinking Rufus argues that enslaved black men were sexually violated by both white men and white women.
“Well Known as Miss Betty Cooper”: Gender Expression in 18th-Century Boston
One 1771 advertisement sought the recapture of an enslaved person known by two names: Cato and Miss Betty Cooper.
Discovering Sex in the Civil War
Surrounded by death, Civil War soldiers found pleasure and fraternity in sharing erotic pictures and prints.
More than Masturbatory: An Interview with April Haynes
Antebellum women’s efforts to reform sexuality through public physiology education.
A Relationship Revealed
The miniature “Beauty Revealed” suggests an erotic relationship between an early American artist and a statesman.
Histories of Sexuality and the Carceral State–Part 1
What can histories of sexuality and gender tell us about the carceral state?
Recent Posts
(Safe) sex, leather, and zines: Lisbon’s GayClub and early HIV/AIDS information activism
Reproduction in Transition: Fertility Technology in the Lives of Sexual and Gender Minorities
The ‘Chosen Family’ Dinner: A non-normative insight into queer homemaking
“Homosexual Hearers” and Queer Musicality in Xavier Mayne’s The Intersexes (1909)
Squirming in the Dark: Playful Occupations for Sex Workers in the 1870 Census