Sex, gender and social change in Britain since 1880

"Though sexual attitudes and behaviour have changed radically in Britain since the mid-nineteenth century, Sex, Gender and Social Change shows how slow, and how halting, these processes of change have been. Lesley Hall reveals how issues which were arousing concern in the 1880s and 1890s continue to manifest in different forms as we enter the new millennium. Topics covered include homosexuality, the increasing separation of sex from reproduction, the changing legal and social position of women, alterations in perceptions of (and laws affecting) marriage, concerns over sex education, anxieties about sexually transmitted diseases, and problems of censorship, as well as changes in beliefs, attitudes, and expectations. These topics are not dealt with in isolation, but are shown to be part of dense and historically specific networks of ideas and attitudes which went to make up sexual culture in Britain during a period of rapid social change."--BOOK JACKET.