ABSTRACT
Sexuality is recognized as a crucial issue in the history of western societies in nineteenth century, just as it is recognized that subordination is a central theme in the history of women during that period. This ‘cultural’ approach is offered not as an alternative to material analysis but rather as an essential component of the history of a social whole within which both elements interact. It takes the view that perceptions and definitions of women’s identities and roles emerged from and in turn influenced the material circumstances of their lives. Whereas the theories and practices related to ‘class’ distinctions and relationships were founded on new ‘sciences’ of political economy and social investigation, theories and practices related to ‘race’ and ‘sex’ drew on biological, anthropological, and medical scholarship, often grounding themselves in part on observable and ‘inescapable’ physical aspects of difference.
