Sex & Sexuality In Early America P

by Smith, Merril D.

• ISBN13: 9780814780688
• ISBN10: 0814780687
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

What role did sexual assault play in the conquest of America? How did American attitudes toward female sexuality evolve, and how was sexuality regulated in the early Republic?Sex and sexuality have always been the subject of much attention, both scholarly and popular. Yet, accounts of the early years of the United States tend to overlook the importance of their influence on the shaping of American culture. Sex and Sexuality in Early America addresses this neglected topic with original research covering a wide spectrum, from sexual behavior to sexual perceptions and imagery. Focusing on the period between the initial contact of Europeans and Native Americans up to 1800, the essays encompass all of colonial North America, including the Caribbean and Spanish territories.Challenging previous assumptions, these essays address such topics as rape as a tool of conquest; perceptions and responses to Native American sexuality; fornication, bastardy, celibacy, and religion in colonial New England; gendered speech in captivity narratives; representations of masculinity in eighteenth- century seduction tales, the sexual cosmos of a southern planter, and sexual transgression and madness in early American fiction. The contributors include Stephanie Wood, Gordon Sayre, Steven Neuwirth, Else L. Hambleton, Erik R. Seeman, Richard Godbeer, Trevor Burnard, Natalie A. Zacek, Wayne Bodle, Heather Smyth, Rodney Hessinger, and Karen A. Weyler.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Perceptions and Realities	p. 1
European/Native American Contract, 1492-1710	p. 7
Sexual Violation in the Conquest of the Americas	p. 9
Native American Sexuality in the Eyes of the Beholders 1535-1710	p. 35
Her Master's Voice: Gender, Speech, and Gendered Speech in the Narrative of the Captivity of Mary White Rowlandson	p. 55
Regulating Sex and Sexuality in Colonial New England	p. 87
The Regulation of Sex in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts: The Quarterly Court of Essex County vs. Priscilla Willson and Mr. Samuel Appleton	p. 89
Sarah Prentice and the Immortalists: Sexuality, Piety, and the Body in Eighteenth-Century New England	p. 116
Race, Sex, and Social Control in the Chesapeake and Caribbean in the Eighteenth Century	p. 133
William Byrd's "Flourish": The Sexual Cosmos of a Southern Planter	p. 135
The Sexual Life of an Eighteenth-Century Jamaican Slave Overseer	p. 163
Sex, Sexuality, and Social Control in the Eighteenth-Century Leeward Islands	p. 190
Images of Masculinity, Femininity, and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century	p. 215
Soldiers in Love: Patrolling the Gendered Frontiers of the Early Republic	p. 217
"Imperfect Disclosures": Cross-Dressing and Containment in Charles Brockden Brown's Ormond	p. 240
"Insidious Murderers of Female Innocence": Representations of Masculinity in the Seduction Tales of the Late Eighteenth Century	p. 262
"The Fruit of Unlawful Embraces": Sexual Transgression and Madness in Early American Sentimental Fiction	p. 283
Selected Bibliography	p. 315
Contributors	p. 333
Index	p. 337
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.