lOMoARcPSD|1485157
The Legal Picture - 5HS003: Sex and the City. David
Hussey.
Sex and the City: Sexuality in the Long Eighteenth Century (University of
Wolverhampton)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
Downloaded by Ellie Dolman ()
, lOMoARcPSD|1485157
5HS003: Sex and the City. Lesbianism in the long-eighteenth century: Tribades, Cross-Dressers and
Romantic Friendship. David Hussey.
The Legal Picture
• Lesbianism, unlike homosexuality, was NOT a matter for the courts
• Because male-on-male sex was conceived in terms of the male
phallus and penetrative acts perpetrated upon the person (assault
with sodomitical intent), the legal framework was not competent (or
interested?) in trying acts of lesbianism
• Occasional presentments in church courts (C17th) regarding
unfitness of some women to marry (annulment due to non-
consummation)
• Does lack of evidence obscure sexuality?
The Female Body
• ‘One Body’ to ‘Two Body’ concept in C18th thought
• ‘One Body’ – women seen as ‘inverted men’, physiologically and
gynaecologically (Galenic view of the humoral nature of the body)
• More room in this model for variations between the ‘male’ and the
‘female’ to exist – hermaphroditism?
• Culturally this allowed space (albeit solidly located within patriarchy)
for lesbian activities to be condoned – ‘mannish’ women would
necessarily find ‘womanly’ women attractive
• Biological explanations in genital ‘dropping’; pudenda
Tribadism
• A Tribade was the female version of the Onanist (one who sought
pleasure through rubbing i.e. masturbation or non-penetrative sex)
• Conceptualised as a ‘lesser’ form of sex – immature, unfulfilling,
unsatisfactory – give way to ‘proper’ sex of male penetration
• C17th- early C18th conceptions of women as innately sexually
lascivious: tribadism as first base to ‘fulfilling’ heterosexuality
• Unlike sodomy which involved male penetration and was thus an
alternative – a threat in terms of enjoyment – to male/female
heterosexual norm, lesbian/tribadist activities did not undermine
centrality of patriarchal discourses (i.e. not in opposition to
dominant forms of heterosexuality)
• Predicated on a model of innate female sexual activity and curiosity
‘Romantic Friendship’
• Homosocial relationships common in early modern period
Downloaded by Ellie Dolman ()
The Legal Picture - 5HS003: Sex and the City. David
Hussey.
Sex and the City: Sexuality in the Long Eighteenth Century (University of
Wolverhampton)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
Downloaded by Ellie Dolman ()
, lOMoARcPSD|1485157
5HS003: Sex and the City. Lesbianism in the long-eighteenth century: Tribades, Cross-Dressers and
Romantic Friendship. David Hussey.
The Legal Picture
• Lesbianism, unlike homosexuality, was NOT a matter for the courts
• Because male-on-male sex was conceived in terms of the male
phallus and penetrative acts perpetrated upon the person (assault
with sodomitical intent), the legal framework was not competent (or
interested?) in trying acts of lesbianism
• Occasional presentments in church courts (C17th) regarding
unfitness of some women to marry (annulment due to non-
consummation)
• Does lack of evidence obscure sexuality?
The Female Body
• ‘One Body’ to ‘Two Body’ concept in C18th thought
• ‘One Body’ – women seen as ‘inverted men’, physiologically and
gynaecologically (Galenic view of the humoral nature of the body)
• More room in this model for variations between the ‘male’ and the
‘female’ to exist – hermaphroditism?
• Culturally this allowed space (albeit solidly located within patriarchy)
for lesbian activities to be condoned – ‘mannish’ women would
necessarily find ‘womanly’ women attractive
• Biological explanations in genital ‘dropping’; pudenda
Tribadism
• A Tribade was the female version of the Onanist (one who sought
pleasure through rubbing i.e. masturbation or non-penetrative sex)
• Conceptualised as a ‘lesser’ form of sex – immature, unfulfilling,
unsatisfactory – give way to ‘proper’ sex of male penetration
• C17th- early C18th conceptions of women as innately sexually
lascivious: tribadism as first base to ‘fulfilling’ heterosexuality
• Unlike sodomy which involved male penetration and was thus an
alternative – a threat in terms of enjoyment – to male/female
heterosexual norm, lesbian/tribadist activities did not undermine
centrality of patriarchal discourses (i.e. not in opposition to
dominant forms of heterosexuality)
• Predicated on a model of innate female sexual activity and curiosity
‘Romantic Friendship’
• Homosocial relationships common in early modern period
Downloaded by Ellie Dolman ()
