Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man

A pioneering new investigation of sex and manhood With few exceptions, sex is noticeably absent from popular histories chronicling colonial and Revolutionary America. Using court records, newspapers, sermons, and private papers from Massachusetts, Thomas Foster vividly shows that sex-the behaviors, desires, and identities associated with eroticism-was a critical component of colonial understanding of the qualities considered befitting for a man. Starkly challenging current views about the development of sexuality in America, the book details early understandings of sexual identity and locates a surprising number of stereotypes until now believed to have originated a century later. As this engrossing and surprising study shows, we cannot understand manliness today or in our early American past without coming to terms with the oft-hidden relationship between sex and masculinity. "For both what it shows and what it suggests, Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man casts its eye on a fascinating and pivotal place and time. It's a book sure to add a new dimension to readers'understanding of masculinity's myriad forms." -Michael Bronski, The Guide

Thomas A. Foster is an Associate Professor in the department of history at DePaul University. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.