A new book by Department of History professor Joy Dixon, Sexual Heresies: Religion, Science, and Sexuality in Modern Britain, has appeared with Stanford University Press.
Published by Stanford University Press, Dr. Dixon’s monograph explores the increasing scrutiny of sexual behaviour and the way it was understood to be connected to religion in the late nineteenth century. The result of engagement with religious anthropology of fertility cults and psychoanalysis was thus increased policing of “sexual heresies” with the goal of achieving healthy, monogamous, and heterosexual religiosity.
Anyone interested in changes in sexuality in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century will find this book essential reading. It has already received rave reviews, with Heike Bauer praising it as a “treasure trove of insights” and Alana Harris calling it “a tour de force”.
Dr. Dixon’s research interests include: Modern Britain, History of gender, sexuality, and the body, History of religion, History of the social and human sciences and History of empire.
