Sex and Gender in Early Modern England

In this module, we explore Early Modern ideas about sex, gender, femininity and masculinity, focusing especially on: (i) how generally, women lacked power, and couldn’t have property, (ii) Early Modern conceptions of gender being bundled up with sex, (iii) the prevalence of Aristotelian medical ideas about men and women, (iv), the Christian understanding of women as men’s ‘helpmeets’, (v) ideas about masculinity based on strength, but also civility and credit, (vi) fear of androgyny, yet its importance for Elizabeth I, and (vii) Michel Foucault’s argument that homosexuality as we know it today could not have existed before the 19th century, and that in the Early Modern period it is about practice rather than identity.


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This lecture is part of a larger course introducing ideas about sex and gender in the Early Modern period. The full course can be found here: https://www.massolit.io/courses/shake...

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MASSOLIT works with university academics to produce short video lectures in the arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is available to schools and colleges on an institutional license as well as via private subscription: massolit.io/?source=yt