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.