The Sexual State: Sexuality and Scottish Governance 1950-80

by Roger Davidson, Gayle Davis

Overview

This important book fills a gap in the study of modern Scottish, and British, Society, providing as it does a vital perspective on Scotland's sexual history and its political and social context. It is unique in exploring the period from 1950 to 1980, covering the immediate post-war and Scotland's sexual 'coming-of-age'. It charts a steady political growth from a deeply moralistic policy framework towards a less judgmental, global and scientific context.

Davidson and Davis lead us through the Scottish sexual landscape leading up to the global crisis of HIV/AIDS, analysing post-war state policy towards issues such as abortion, family planning, homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, sex education and sexual heath. Policy-makers, social historians, teachers and students alike will find this an invaluable resource on the study of sexuality and policy-making in modern society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748649457
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	04/12/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	754 KB

About the Author

Roger Davidson is Emeritus Professor of Social History at the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely on the history of medical and governmental responses to sexual issues since 1870. He is the author of Dangerous Liaisons: A Social History of Venereal Disease in Twentieth-Century Scotland, Routledge (2000), and co-editor of Sex, Sin and Suffering: Venereal Disease and European Society since 1870, Routledge (2001) and Shaping Sexual Knowledge: A Cultural History of Sex Education in Twentieth- Century Europe, Routledge (2009).

Dr Gayle Davis is Wellcome Lecturer in the History of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She has published on the social history of medicine and sexuality, including 'The Cruel Madness of Love': Sex, Syphilis and Psychiatry in Scotland, 1880-1930 (Rodopi, Amsterdam and Atlanta, 2008).

Table of Contents

Tables; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Chapter 1 Introduction; PART I SEXUAL OFFENCES; Chapter 2 Female Prostitution; Chapter 3 Homosexual Law Reform, 1950-67; Chapter 4 Homosexual Law Reform, 1967-80; PART II REPRODUCTIVE ISSUES; Chapter 5 Abortion; Chapter 6 Family Planning; PART III DISEASE AND ENLIGHTENMENT; Chapter 7 Sexual Health; Chapter 8 School Sex Education; PART IV SEX AND CENSORSHIP; Chapter 9 Moral Censorship and the State in the 1950s; Chapter 10 Sex, Censorship and Scottish Governance in the 1960s; Chapter 11 Policing Pornography and Obscenity in the 1970s; Chapter 12 Conclusion; Sources and Select Bibliography; Index.

What People are Saying About This

Rich and original... this is a major contribution to Scottish history. It also provides indispensable insights into the complexities of British and European sexual history.

Jeffrey Weeks

Rich and original... this is a major contribution to Scottish history. It also provides indispensable insights into the complexities of British and European sexual history.

Editorial Reviews

'Brings considerable nuance and regional comparative element to...the comtemporary history of sexuality in Britain....indispensible...should be valued by all working in this field.'
Sean Brady, Social History of Medicine

From the Publisher

Brings considerable nuance and regional comparative element to … the contemporary history of sexuality in Britain. … Indispensible … [It] should be valued by all working in this field.

Social History of Medicine - Sean Brady

Rich and original... this is a major contribution to Scottish history. It also provides indispensable insights into the complexities of British and European sexual history.

Jeffrey Weeks