AMER0043 Challenging the Straight State: Regulation, Repression, and Resistance in US Sexual Politic

***NOT RUNNING IN 2024/2025***

Module convenor: to be confirmed.

Outline:

One of the key attributes of any modern state is its ability to regulate and control society. While the federal government in the United States possessed relatively few powers over domestic affairs until the twentieth century, the States exercised their ‘police powers’ from the beginning of the new nation, including controlling laws surrounding marriage and sexual behaviour. With the growth of federal powers, including the establishment of a modern social welfare system and national security apparatus during the 1930s and 1940s, the central state increased its regulatory oversight of the people. Using Margot Canaday’s landmark 2009 book, The Straight State, as its point of departure, this module explores the ways in which the American state has sought to control sexual norms, behaviours, and identities over the course of the twentieth century, a time in which medical experts, politicians, and bureaucrats became increasingly concerned with questions of sexuality and sexual dissidence. The module also examines the ways in which Americans have resisted and contested state regulation and control of their sexualities, and how sites of resistance to state power have played a role in reshaping activist strategies and legal and social norms around sexuality. We explore the twin themes of regulation and resistance in sexual politics using case studies of social policy, immigration, marriage and relationships, the law, and medical discourses around sexuality.

Assessment:

Methods of assessment vary between modules, and are subject to change.  Please email ia-programmes@ucl.ac.uk for further information.