Sex Celibacy in Premod Eur

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

From the beginning of the Christian church in Europe, the roles of sex and celibacy have been highly contested and debated areas. The development of a celibate clergy, the role of sex within marriage, and the relative merits or not of virginity have formed a core part of the development of Western culture. By studying the debates over sex and celibacy from the perspective of two specific groups of women (nuns and prostitutes) who were intimately defined by these categories, this course analyzes their role in society and history. The course begins with a discussion of sex and celibacy in general, as well as theological debates about their place in society in late Antiquity. It then looks more specifically at the role of nuns and prostitutes in premodern Europe, through the sixteenth-century Reformations: their social utility, religious justifications, and changing role in culture. Nuns and prostitutes were often conflated, in large part because of their sexualized identity – either shunning sex or wallowing in it – and desires to control or reform these groups crossed religious, geographical, political, and chronological boundaries. Readings are a mix of primary and secondary sources addressing the history and culture of sexuality in premodern times.