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Loading... Sinners and Citizens: Bestiality and Homosexuality in Sweden, 1880-1950 (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)by Jens Rydstrom
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. As promised, a close scholarly examination of the named sexual activities in Sweden during that period. For the most part the book concentrates on criminal prosecution as reflected in courtroom and police records; however, there are also treatments of legislation, medical and correctional trends, literature, and interstitial chapters called Interludes which narrate individual case studies more fully where diaries or letters survive. The author emphasizes the differences in society's treatment over the years as well as between rural and urban areas. As an academic book, this is nearly flawless. For the general reader, its considerable length will be vexing to some, as the author piles example upon example which to this reader eventually became rather repetitious. ( ) no reviews | add a review
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Sinners and Citizens explores how sexual habits changed in Sweden during its development from an agrarian society into a modern welfare state. Jens Rydström examines the history of homosexuality and bestiality in that country to consider why these sexual practices have been so closely linked in virtually all Western societies. He limns sharply the distinctive experience of rural life, showing that to regularly witness farm animals stirred passions and sparked ideas, especially among young farmhands. Based on medical journals, psychiatric reports, and court records from the period, as well as testimonies from men in diaries, letters, and interviews, Sinners and Citizens reveals that bestiality was once a dreaded crime in Sweden. But in time, mention of the practice disappeared completely from legal and medical debates. This, Rydström contends, is because models of penetrative sodomy shifted from bestiality to homosexuality as Sweden transformed from a rural society into a more urban one. As the nation's economy and culture became less identified with the countryside, so too did its idea of deviant sexual behavior. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)306.76609485Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Culture and Institutions Relations between the sexes, sexualities, love Sexual orientation, gender identity Homosexuality Biography And History Europe ScandinaviaLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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