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English 7119
American Sexualities
W 2-4:30
Libr 424B
Professor Mary Klages
Hellems 121
Office Hours: M 12-2, W 12-1
and by appointment
303-641-2602
Mary.Klages@Colorado.Edu
Course Requirements
 10 response papers. These are places to articulate your responses to the course
material. You can analyze the readings, take up a topic raised in class, pose
questions, bring in other texts and ideas from other disciplines or periods. Each
response paper should be typed, double-spaced, with a minimum of three typed
pages per paper. You will earn 10 points for each response paper you turn in,
for a maximum of 100 points toward your final grade. Response papers can be
turned in for any class period; I will keep track of how many you have turned in
through the course of the semester.
 Leading course discussions. Working in pairs, each student will come prepared
to lead course discussion for one hour for each class meeting; each student will
have two opportunities for this. Leading discussion does not mean giving a
presentation; rather, it means being familiar with the assigned readings and
posing questions that will help fellow students understand and interrogate those
readings. There will be a sign-up sheet so that everyone knows when s/he is
scheduled to be a discussion leader.
 Final research paper. This can be on the topic of your choice, insofar as that is
relevant to the course materials and conversations. The research paper should
be about 20 pages long. It will be worth 100 points toward your final grade.
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Other Matters
 Should you need to miss a class for any reason, it is your responsibility to
find out what happened in that class. You can ask another student or check
with me. If you know in advance that you will miss a class, please let me
know.
 Disabilities: If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability,
please submit to your professor a letter from Disability Services in a timely
manner (for exam accommodations provide your letter at least one week
prior to the exam) so that your needs can be addressed. Disability Services
determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact
Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or by e-mail at dsinfo@colorado.edu.
If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Injuries
under Quick Links at Disability Services website
(http://disabilityservices.colorado.edu/) and discuss your needs with your
professor.
 Religious Observances: Campus policy regarding religious observances
requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all
students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled
exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, please notify the
professor or the TA should you need any accomodations for religious
observances. See full details at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
 Classroom Behavior: Students and faculty each have responsibility for
maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere
to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional
courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals
and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed,
politics, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and
gender expression, age, disability, and nationalities. Class rosters are
provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor
your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please
advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make
appropriate changes to my records. See policies at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at
http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_co
de
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 Discrimination: The University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) is
committed to maintaining a positive learning, working, and living
environment. The University of Colorado does not discriminate on the basis
of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual
orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and
employment in, its educational programs and activities. (Regent Law,
Article 10, amended 11/8/2001). CU-Boulder will not tolerate acts of
discrimination or harassment based upon Protected Classes or related
retaliation against or by any employee or student. For purposes of this CUBoulder policy, "Protected Classes" refers to race, color, national origin, sex,
pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender
identity, gender expression, or veteran status. Individuals who believe they
have been discriminated against should contact the Office of Discrimination
and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Student Conduct
(OSC) at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH, the above referenced
policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding
discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://hr.colorado.edu/dh/
 Honor Code: All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are
responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this
institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of
academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior.
All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code
Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-735-2273). Students who are found to
be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both
academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions
(including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion).
Other information on the Honor Code can be found at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at
http://honorcode.colorado.edu
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Syllabus
Wednesday January 16: American Sexualities: Texts, Histories, Theories
Wednesday January 23: What is Sex/uality?
Thomas Laquer, Making Sex
Veronique Mottier, Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction
Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, chapter 1: “Dueling Dualisms”
Judith Butler, from “Introduction” to Bodies That Matter (handout)
Wednesday January 28: What is History?
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, volume 1
Keith Jenkins, Rethinking History
David Halperin, “Forgetting Foucault” (course reader)
Hayden White, “The Historical Text as Literary Artifact” (course reader)
Wednesday February 6: Sexual/ Revolutionary America
Hannah Foster, The Coquette
Freedman and D’Emilio, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in
America, chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Cathy Davidson, “Privileging the Feme Covert: The Sociology of
Sentimental Fiction” (course reader)
Clare Lyons, “ Sex and the Politics of Gender in the Age of Revolution”
(course reader)
Richard Godbeer, “’A Hint to Young Ladies’: Courtship, Sexual Danger,
and Moral Agency in Revolutionary America” (course reader)
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Wednesday February 13: (Sexual) Utopias and Free Love
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Helen Horowitz, Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Antebellum America
Freedman and D’Emilio, Intimate Matters chapter 4
Louis Kern, “’Students in the Laboratories of Their Own Bodies’: The
(Re)Construction of Male Sexuality and the Male Sexual Body in Victorian
Free Love Literature” (course reader)
Wednesday February 20: Enslavements and Sexualities
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (or slave narrative of
your choice) in Gates, ed. Slave Narratives
Freedman and D’Emilio, Intimate Matters chapter 5
Carolyn Sorisio, “The Body in the Body Politic: Race, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nineteenth Century America” (course reader)
John Saillant, “The Black Body Erotic and the Republican Body Politic,
1790-1820” (course reader)
Abdul JanMohamed, “Sexuality On/Of the Racial Border: Foucault, Wright,
and the Articulation of ‘Racialized Sexuality’” (course reader)
William Benemann, “Racism and Homosexual Desire in the Antebellum
Period” (course reader)
Wednesday February 27: Urban Sexualities, Pornography, and Sensation Fictions
George Thompson, Venus in Boston
Freedman and D’Emilio, Intimate Matters, chapter 6
Barbara Hobson, “Policing the City, 1820-1860” (course reader)
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Cohen, Gilfoyle, and Horowitz, “Sexual Politics” and “Legacies” from The
Flash Press: Sporting Male Weeklies in 1840s New York (course reader)
Wednesday March 6: Hermaphrodites I
Michel Foucault, Herculine Barbin
Elizabeth Reis, “From Monsters to Deceivers” (course reader)
Judith Butler, from Gender Trouble (course reader)
Wednesday March 13: Hermaphrodites II
Julia Ward Howe, The Hermaphrodite
Wednesday March 20: Masculinities/ Sexualities
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
Philip Van Buskirk, excerpts from “Erotic Diaries” (course reader)
Thomas Foster, “Paths of Monstrous Joy” (course reader)
William Benemann, “Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash” (course reader)
Wednesday April 3: Democratic Sexualities
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, “Children of Adam” and “Calamus”
sections
Tom Yingling and Robyn Wiegman, “Homosexuality and Utopian
Discourse in American Poetry” (course reader)
Ed Folsom, “Whitman’s Calamus Photographs” (course reader)
Wednesday April 10: Lesbians?
Mary Wilkins Freeman, “Two Friends” (course reader)
Mary Wilkins Freeman, “The Long Arm” (course reader)
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Constance Fenimore Woolson, “Felipa” (course reader)
Kate Chopin, “The Falling in Love of Fedora” (course reader)
Alice Mitchell: a case history (course reader)
Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, “The Female World of Love and Ritual” (course
reader)
Martha Vicinus, “’They Wonder to Which Sex I Belong’” (course reader)
Wednesday April 17: Social Purity, Censorship, Civilization
Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Freedman and D’Emilio, Intimate Matters chapters 7 and 8
Marilyn Hill, “’The Terrible State of Society and Morals…in Unhappy New
York” (course reader)
Nicola Beisel, “Anthony Comstock versus Free Love” (course reader)
Wednesday April 24: Sexology and Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality
Excerpts from Richard von Kraft-Ebbing, Psychopathia Sexualis and
Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex (course reader)
Wednesday May 1: Last class.
Final paper due by 4 p.m. Wednesday May 8