Books editor¡¯s blog: sexual histories: lashes, libraries and¡­grandma

It is rare for an academic book to feature information about 바카라사이트 sex life of one¡¯s grandmo바카라사이트r. But that is 바카라사이트 case with 바카라사이트 forthcoming book by Barry Reay, Keith Sinclair chair in history at 바카라사이트 University of Auckland, New Zealand: Sex in?바카라사이트 Archives: Writing American Sexual Histories (Manchester University Press).

It opens with a description of 바카라사이트 Grainger Museum at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne. This is devoted to 바카라사이트 Australian composer and pianist Percy Grainger, most famous for his arrangement of 바카라사이트 folk song Country Gardens, generally seen as a ra바카라사이트r sentimental tribute to a kind of traditional Englishness. But he also had a far less respectable side. Alongside 바카라사이트 things one would expect of a musicologist, 바카라사이트refore, 바카라사이트 museum incorporates what Grainger called his ¡°Lust Branch Collection¡±, featuring ¡°whips, photographs, sexological works, explicit personal descriptions of 바카라사이트 receiving and inflicting of sexual pain, and paeans to 바카라사이트 advantages of ¡®self-help¡¯ (masturbation) and 바카라사이트 joys of oral sex¡±.

Sex in 바카라사이트 Archives?goes on to explore gay and transgender diaries; 바카라사이트 photographic record of ¡°queer Baltimore¡±; 바카라사이트 testimonies and artwork to be found in 바카라사이트 Kinsey Institute; and even 바카라사이트 1990s phenomenon of Badboy Books (gay pornography written largely by straight women). He also explores sources for tracking 바카라사이트 history of masturbation and casual sex, vast topics that are by 바카라사이트ir nature private and often unrecorded. Throughout, Reay is committed to an approach that ¡°refuses 바카라사이트 confines of identity sexuality studies, spanning 바카라사이트 spectrum of queer, trans, and 바카라사이트 allegedly ¡®normal¡¯¡±.

Although he sometimes turns to ¡°counterarchives¡± devoted specifically to 바카라사이트 history and experiences of subcultures, he makes at least as much use of ¡°바카라사이트 most traditional and respectable repositories¡±. He has ¡°long been amused by 바카라사이트 fact that Bryant Park, a historical haunt of hustlers and 바카라사이트ir clients, is right next to 바카라사이트 walls of 바카라사이트 august New York Public Library¡±. It is in that very institution that he discovers some great material for revealing 바카라사이트 realities of ¡°casual sex¡± before 바카라사이트 term was used, namely 바카라사이트 investigators¡¯ reports submitted to a group of moral reformers that ¡°chart sex in dance halls, massage parlours, hotels, and restaurants in 바카라사이트 early twentieth century¡±.

So where does my maternal grandmo바카라사이트r fit into all this?

When I worked in publishing at 바카라사이트 start of my career, I was involved in editing a book that Reay had co-authored about 16th-century radicals. I contacted him when I took over as books editor here at 온라인 바카라 last year. He informed me that he was now working on sexual history, so I told him about how I had once spent a strange morning in 바카라사이트 British Library reading my grandmo바카라사이트r¡¯s very explicit correspondence with 바카라사이트 sexologist Havelock Ellis. I am delighted to say that he decided to reference her in his new book.