Class Sexuality: History, society and culture

This course aims to explore the various ways in which human sexuality has been understood throughout the history of the Western world, as well as the implications of changes and continuities in this conceptualization. It will also analyze how the media play a structuring role in the circulating discourses on gender and sexuality. This course operates at the intersection of the history of science, sexology, sociology, and communication sciences.

Not applicable

1 – Sex and sexuality: historically situated definitions 1.1    – Denaturalizing sex and sexuality 2         The “pre-history” of sexuality 2.1    Historical connections between madness and sexuality 2.2    Rereading medieval Europe in the light of historical situationism 3         Sexuality as a modern European invention 3.1    Scientia sexualis and the sexuality dispositif 3.2    The bourgeois family 3.3    Sexual identities as power relationships 4         Intersectionality and sexuality 4.1    Intersectionality as a method of analysis 4.2    Sexuality, gender, “race”, and class 4.3    The negotiable frontiers between “good” and “bad” sex 5         Social representations of sexuality 5.1    Sexuality, new media, and mainstream media 5.2    Activism and plural voices in discourses on sexualities 6         Sexuality and Sexology in Portugal 6.1    The ambivalence of biomedical and critical psychology contributions 7         “Human Sexuality” as untenable 7.1    Post-identitary models

The unit’s contents will be taught through different methods, namely: TM1: Lecturing, TM2: Interactive Dialogue; TM3: Research, reading, analysis and discussion of scientific findings and essays; TM4: Guided group debate; TM5: Media representation analysis, with professorial guidance. Evaluation will be as follows: -          Continuous evaluation: individual critical summary of a text (20%); group assignment on social representations of sexuality (30%); oral examination on the history or culture of sexuality (50%).

Butler, J. (2017). Problemas de Género (N. Quintas, Trans.). Orfeu Negro. Fassin, E. (2014). Biopower, sexual democracy, and the racialization of sex. In J. D. Faubion (Ed.), Foucault now: Current perspectives in Foucault studies (pp. 131–151). Polity Press. Foucault, M. (1994). História da sexualidade 1: A Vontade de Saber. Relógio d’Água. Foucault, M. (2006). History of Madness. Routledge. Loyola, M. A. (2003). Sexualidade e medicina: A revolução do século XX. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 19(4), 875–884. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2003000400002 Phillips, K. M., & Reay, H. (2011). Sex before Sexuality: A Premodern History. Polity Press. Preciado, P. B. (2019). Manifesto Contra-Sexual. Orfeu Negro. Rubin, G. (2007). Thinking Sex: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality. In R. Parker & P. Aggleton (Eds.), Culture, Society and Sexuality: A Reader (2nd ed., pp. 150–187). Routledge.