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When Alfred Kinsey's massive studies Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female appeared in 1948 and 1953, their detailed data spurred an unprecedented public discussion of the nation's sexual practices and ideologies. As they debated what behaviors were normal or average, abnormal or deviant, Cold War Americans also celebrated and scrutinized the state of their nation, relating apparent changes in sexuality to shifts in its political structure, economy, and people. American Sexual Character employs the studies and the myriad responses they evoked to examine national debates about sexuality, gender, and Americanness after World War II. Focusing on the mutual construction of postwar ideas about national identity and sexual life, this wide-ranging, shrewd, and lively analysis explores the many uses to which these sex surveys were put at a time of extreme anxiety about sexual behavior and its effects on the nation.
Looking at real and perceived changes in masculinity, female sexuality, marriage, and homosexuality, Miriam G. Reumann develops the notion of "American sexual character," sexual patterns and attitudes that were understood to be uniquely American and to reflect contemporary transformations in politics, social life, gender roles, and culture. She considers how apparent shifts in sexual behavior shaped the nation's workplaces, homes, and families, and how these might be linked to racial and class differences.
Looking at real and perceived changes in masculinity, female sexuality, marriage, and homosexuality, Miriam G. Reumann develops the notion of "American sexual character," sexual patterns and attitudes that were understood to be uniquely American and to reflect contemporary transformations in politics, social life, gender roles, and culture. She considers how apparent shifts in sexual behavior shaped the nation's workplaces, homes, and families, and how these might be linked to racial and class differences.
Price: $85.00
Pages: 305
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
07 March 2005
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520238350
Format: Hardcover
Miriam G. Reumann is Visiting Scholar at Brown University and Instructor in History at the University of Rhode Island.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Sexual Order in Our Nation":
American Sexuality and National Character in the Postwar United States
2. "A Missing Sense of Maleness":
Male Heterosexuality, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and the Crisis of American Masculinity
3. "Much the Same Desires as Men":
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female and the "American Woman"
4. "I’m a Much Better Citizen Than If I Were Single":
Remaking Postwar Marriage and Reconfiguring Marital Sexuality
5. "An Age of Sexual Ambiguity":
Homosexuality and National Character in the Postwar United States
Epilogue. "All America Is One Big Orgone Box":
American Sexual Character Revisited
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Sexual Order in Our Nation":
American Sexuality and National Character in the Postwar United States
2. "A Missing Sense of Maleness":
Male Heterosexuality, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and the Crisis of American Masculinity
3. "Much the Same Desires as Men":
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female and the "American Woman"
4. "I’m a Much Better Citizen Than If I Were Single":
Remaking Postwar Marriage and Reconfiguring Marital Sexuality
5. "An Age of Sexual Ambiguity":
Homosexuality and National Character in the Postwar United States
Epilogue. "All America Is One Big Orgone Box":
American Sexual Character Revisited
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index