Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times

This is a wide-ranging collection of articles on normal and abnormal sexual practices in western society, from the ancient world to the present day. The contributors - French, Italian and English historians, sociologists and anthropolgists - examine the complex origins of the western model of marriage, the importance of the distinction between love within and love outside marriage, the changing attitudes towards sexual practices between men and women, and the relative dissolubility of marriage at different periods. The homosexual revolution has been at least as far reaching in its effect on western convention and law as the heterosexual revolution of the 1960s. The origins and implications of both these movements are examined in the book from the perspective of past and present attitudes to femininity and masculinity. The contributors are: Philippe Aries, Andre Bejin, Robin Fox, Michel Foucault, Paul Veyne, Michael Pollak, Jacques Rossiaud, Achillo Olivieri, Angeline Goreau, Jean-Louis Flandrin and Hubert Lafont.