HIS-30127 - Gender and Sexuality in Georgian Britain
Coordinator: Dominic Ts Janes Tel: +44 1782 7 33009
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2021/22

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None


Barred Combinations

None


Description for 2021/22

Georgian Britain presents us with a fascinating paradox. Satirical prints and novels from the period present spectacles of rumbustious, drunken and lusty lives but, at the same time, the United Kingdom was developing as a serious-minded imperial and trading power. In this module we will look at the way in which libertine and reformist traditions battled over the roles of men and women and the degree to which their identities and desires should be regulated in public and in private. Pioneering calls for women's rights and early justifications of proto-homosexual behaviour co-existed with vicious judicial enforcement of often antiquated moral legislation. This course provides an opportunity to study the century during which modern constructions of gender and sexuality, with which we live today, were taking shape.
Topics may include male libertinism, images of adultery and prostitution, legal punishment of sexual offenders such as sodomites, politeness, sentimentality and emotion, romanticism and radicalism, race, class and sexual desire, dandyism and fashion.

Aims
To consider and appreciate the changing ways that gender and sexuality were perceived in Britain during the Georgian period.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2

Study hours

20 hours seminars, 90 hours seminar preparation, 20 hours essay preparation and writing, 20 hours commentary preparation and writing


School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Commentary weighted 40%
Source Commentary
1000 word commentary on a primary source. There will be a choice of textual and visual sources from which to choose as listed in the module handbook.

2: Essay weighted 60%
1500 word essay
Students will be asked to undertake a 1500 word essay chosen from a selection supplied by the tutor in the module handbook.