Stephen Brogan Rictor Norton is the renowned historian of early modern and nineteenth-century homosexuality, best known for his book Mother Clap’s Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830 (1992). His website is a treasure trove of primary sources and essays, including his online-only source book Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England. NOTCHES caught up […]
Tag: early modern sexuality
Three’s a Crowd?: Navigating a Love Triangle in Enlightenment France
How an Enlightenment philosopher understood the love between his mistress and her sister
‘She rose in the Morning of a contrary Sex’: Stories from Early Modern Wonder Books
Early modern wonder books included stories of people who changed sex as a surprising natural phenomenon.
Teaching the Early Modern “Penis-Vagina”
Presenting Vesalius’ “penis-vagina” (as many students took to calling it) on the first day of class immediately primed students to dissect early modern social constructions of gender and sexuality.
Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome
Same-sex couples in the early modern period claimed marriage in their own particular ways.
Women’s Experiences in Fornication and Paternity Suits in Massachusetts, 1740-1800
Women’s confessions and paternity suits reveal a host of information about the sexual lives of early Americans.
The Origins of Sex: An Interview With Faramerz Dabhoiwala
Dabhoiwala traces the transformation of western approaches to sexuality during the Enlightenment.
Recent Posts
Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and Britain’s Battle for LGBT Education
How to Write the History of Pederasty in the Age of Groomers
Age Difference and Queer Feminism: Bryher, H.D. and Norman Douglas
The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages
An Escape from Nazi Vienna: Heinrich Schrefel and Queer Holocaust history