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The Nineteenth Century
While research into the area of sexuality was for centuries not acceptable to many people, during the 18th century some research was conducted by early medical doctors interested in the subject. Their emphasis was physiological. Expenditure of semen was thought to have vast physiological consequences. Particularly if expended to “excess,” it was thought to cause dryness, weakening, a decay of the spinal cord, and aching. It is interesting to note that, even today some coaches will tell their players to “save themselves” before a game to avoid being too tired.
During the 19th century, research on sexuality started to focus on psychological areas. Toward the end of the century, psychoanalytic interpretations of sexuality made a great impression upon society. A clinic approach to the analysis of sexual thoughts and behavior still has a major influence on contemporary thinking about sexuality.
The Romantic Era
The Romantics accepted individual desires and passions as important in human behavior. Personal feelings were emphasized, and relations between the sexes were supposed to be natural. Marriage was viewed as a union between two equal people and was to be based on mutual feelings. Women played a variety of roles during this period, not just a fragmented one as a wife, mother, mistress, or whore, as in other times. According to romantic ideals, feelings should be guides to choices and behaviors.
The Victorian Era
Around 1840, Victorianism, a moral ethic that supported the suppression of sexual desires was accepted by a large part of English society. Men were encouraged to delay marriage until they were successful and stable. Passions were supposed to be held in check before and after marriage.
It was believed that men had natural and spontaneous sexual desires but that women’s drives were not spontaneous and were dormant unless subjected to “undue excitation.” Children were thought to have no sexual feeling whatsoever.
Many efforts were made to “protect” people from being placed in danger of sexual excitation. Sexual references in literature and surroundings in general were suppressed. Masturbation was viewed as a negative behavior and was called the “secret sin,” “self pollution,” or “the solitary vice.” Devices were even developed to place around the male’s penis at night to prevent “spermatorrhea,” or wet dreams.
The United States in the 19th Century
In its usual way, the U. S. served as a sort of melting pot, representing a variety of activities and thoughts originating in other, much older countries. The family was still strongly patriarchal, and the double standard for sexual behavior was still prevalent. In fact, it was often believed that a man could not be expected to restrict his sexual needs to his marriage. For many women, even with marriage, sexual relations were an unspeakable and unpleasant duty necessary for reproduction and for satisfying their husband’s “animal” needs. Seidman (1991) has described the principal change in American sexuality during the nineteenth century as the “sexualization of love.” It could also be described as a shift to companionate marriage. Marriage came to be defined less as an institutional arrangement of reciprocal duties, and more as a personal relationship between the spouses.
Women were not supposed to experience sexual pleasure; if they did, it led to suspicion from their husbands and guilt on the part of the wife. To help meet the male need, prostitution emerged as an important social institution. Then the male could turn to the prostitute to satisfy his strong drives and protect the “good: women from his uncontrollable desires.
Many social changes were occurring in the U. S. that contributed to rather rapid changes near the end of the 19th century and particularly in the early 20th century. Examples of these changes were the Industrial Revolution, the westward expansion, and increases in immigration. These factors influenced thinking about male-female roles, family styles, and sexual behavior in general. In 1848 the first organized meeting took place to formulate a statement of rights for women. As sexuality started to be a legitimate area of study, researchers collected evidence that indicated the varieties of sexual behavior were much more common than had been thought. This led to the questioning of traditional oral viewpoints.
Thanks to the activities of Anthony Comstock, birth control became a public issue. Comstock, and official of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, was able to persuade the U. S. Congress in 1873 to pass a law prohibiting the mailing across state lines of obscene material. Birth control information and devices were specifically deemed to be “obscene.” (The Comstock Act of 1873, which remained a valid law until overturned by the USSC in the 1960s)
Two important researchers helped define sexuality in the 19th century: Havelock Ellis, and Sigmund Freud.
Ellis, who became a physician and decided to study human sexuality, grew up in fear of what might happen to him because of what he’d been told about the danger of nocturnal emissions. He was also concerned about his general ignorance of human sexuality. Between 1896 and 1910, he published a sex-volume series, entitles “Studies in the Physiology of Sex,” that contained the following beliefs:
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Masturbation is normal for both sexes
- Orgasm in males and females is very much the same
- Homosexuality and heterosexuality are a matter of degree
- Women do have sexual desire, contrary to Victorian though.
- There is no one norm for human sexuality. Thoughts and acts vary between individuals and among cultures.
- There should be sexual education for both sexes beginning at an early age (how radical, no?)
- There should not be laws against contraception of private sexual behavior.
It is obvious that Ellis’ ideas were controversial and far ahead of their time. In fact, even today, some people would have issues with much of this. His work was influential on many subsequent sexuality researchers.
Freud, a psychological researcher, developed theories about human development, personality, and psychotherapy that have influenced later thinking. In order to develop into a well-adjusted person, he rationalized, one had to progress successfully through a number of psychosexual stages.
Freud viewed sexuality and sexual pleasure as a central part of human life and felt that people naturally sought to have as much pleasure and as little pain as possible. He suggested that sexual activity was natural, that procreation was secondary to pleasure, and cautioned against too sever restriction on sexual instincts. People, he maintained, could become neurotic if they were denied natural expression.
One of Freud’s important contributions was his suggestion that children are sexual beings and that early childhood experiences have strong consequences for adult functioning. Largely owing to Freud’s work, sexual thoughts and behaviors are still considered to be major influences on contemporary life in general.
Sex education began to take come prescient steps. In 1892, the National Education Association first promoted sexual education as a needed part of a national curriculum. And, in 1899, the national PTA similarly promoted sexuality education before puberty.
Twentieth Century United States
As traditional moral viewpoints were questioned, people began to wonder whether any one standard of morality could apply universally. Social scientists talked about people being definers of their own morality, while religious leaders saw morality as being determined by a higher order than mere humans.
1900 – 1945
As traditional religious morality began to slip, there were secular attempts to legislate morality. Censorship, prohibition, and the revival of old statutes against sexual behaviors were the next step. The role of the female underwent significant change. She had more social freedom, as shown by less parental control in choosing a mater; and she mad more bodily freedom, as shown by changes in the style of dress.
World War I had a social impact as well. It forced large numbers of people to come into contact with other societies, which led to further questioning of traditional sexual mores. Family roles were questioned and altered as well.
Many social forces resulted in new patterns of thinking about sexual behavior. There was a decrease in the “sinful” view of sexual behavior, and there were arguments for sexual expression as being natural and meaningful. The increased knowledge and reliability of contraceptives led to the view that there must be a reason for intercourse other than procreation. This meant that people were admitting that they were participating in sexual behavior for enjoyment and as part of a relationship.
In the 1920s through the 1940s, Margaret Sanger (founder of the National Birth Control League, which went on to become Planned Parenthood) worked to give a push to the birth control movement. She wrote about the need to give women more control over their own bodies and emphasized the fact that happiness in marriage was related to the ability to control births. In addition, she opened clinics designed to make birth control information and services more readily and widely available.
The family structure started to shift from the traditional patriarchal style to a companionship style involving more democracy and recognition of the rights and feeling so fall members. The sexual rights of women were held to be important, and it was even believed that female sexual drives existed and needed to be satisfied.
The spontaneous invention of dating influenced mate selection and provided countless opportunities for people to better know themselves as well as others. Romantic stories became part of the mass media as improved technology facilitated the establishment of the media as a significant social force. The early movies and soap operas presented a variety of love and romantic experiences.
The 19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution gave women the right to vote. The increasing presence of the automobile gave people a bedroom on wheels and greater mobility. Toward the end of this period, WWII again caused a social upheaval that tested and changed thinking about life styles and sexuality.
Sources:
Bruess, Clint, and Greenberg, Jerrold, Sexuality Education: Theory and Practice. 4th Ed., 2004
Sadock, B. J., Kaplan, H.I., & Freedman, A.M., The Sexual Experience, 1976.
Sex in Ancient Greece, Sexual Behavior (June, 1971)
Sex in Ancient Rome, Sexual Behavior (June, 1971)
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