The origins of sex


Fascinating lecture at the National Portrait Gallery given by Faramerz Dabhoiwala, a senior fellow at Exeter College Oxford discussing how and why attitudes to sex changes in Britain between 1600 and 1800.

Before this period sex outside marriage was illegal however with the coming of the enlightenment it started to be considered that sex is a private matte and morality cannot be imposed by force. He discussed sexual radicals in the period including early discussion of gay rights issues and how the notion that men are more lustful than women was challenged.

He concluded by looking at the growth of newspapers and the advent of the sex scandal taking as an example Kitty Fisher who recovered from bad publicity by commissioning portraits by Reynolds.  

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