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History of Bodies, Sexualities and
Reproduction
Members of this theme explore the
history of bodies, sexuality and
reproduction by focussing on examples
from the prehistoric period up to the
20th century. A key focus of all
research strands is the making of
gendered bodies in different historical
and cultural contexts.
The sub-theme will bring together
several case studies. Archaeologists
Chris Fowler and Kirsi Lorentz
are examining material representations
of the body in the European prehistoric
period. Classicist James Wilberding
explores the status of the embryo/foetus
as a human being in Antiquity. Early
modern medical historian Cathy
McClive studies the sexuality of the
older woman in Early-Modern France and,
in a second case study, metaphors,
euphemisms and imagery used to refer to
true and false conceptions in French
medical texts from the 16th-18th
centuries. The history of infertility in
Britain from the mid-17th to the
mid-19th century is the theme Helen
Berry is researching. The principal
investigator, medical historian Lutz
Sauerteig, researches
representations of the foetus in public
media in the 20th century, and, together
with a PhD student, the making of the
heterosexual body in English and German
sex and health education films.
Fowler and Lorentz investigate
understandings of the body in European
prehistory. They consider the different
presentations and representations of
bodies by examining physical
transformations throughout life and
re-presentation of bodies following
death, as well as representations of the
body through other material media
including figurines. Not all European
prehistoric contexts utilised all of
these media: contrasts between different
techniques of re-presentation are
considered. These studies also consider
the treatment of differently sexed
bodies, and figurines representing the
sexed and reproductive body.
Building on her previous project on
menstruation, McClive studies the
sexuality of the older woman in
Early-Modern France. Little research has
been conducted on the sexual health and
sexual histories of older and menopausal
women in the early modern period. Based
on printed and manuscript medical texts
alongside marital advice-literature and
casuistic texts from the 16th-18th
centuries, this strand explores the
acceptability and desirability of sexual
activity for older women in early-modern
France with regard to contemporary
notions of health, procreation and
conjugal duty.
Based on qualitative analysis of a wide
range of primary evidence, Berry in
collaboration with Elizabeth Foyster
(Cambridge) is researching the history
of infertility in Britain from the
mid-17th to the mid-19th century. This
project arises from their research on
men without children. Much existing work
has focused on the quantitative
demographic implications of fertility
(e.g. the CamPop group) or on later
periods. The project pays close
attention to attitudes, experiences and
solutions in relation to infertility. It
situates infertility in the wider
historical and cultural context of
medical, legal and moral dilemmas using
medico-legal and literary sources as
well as visual representations of
infertile men and women.
Textual and visual representations of
the foetus provide a central focus for a
number of case studies. Wilberding
researches the status of the
embryo/foetus as a human being in
Antiquity. Principal issues concern the
identity of the soul responsible for
forming the embryo and the relation of
the embryo to the mother. Building on
her previous work on the foetus and
pregnancy, McClive studies early-modern
French medical texts (16th-18th
centuries) to trace the development of
attitudes towards and understandings of
false conceptions. In contrast to
monstrous births which have been the
topic of much scholarly interest, false
conceptions remain under-investigated;
McClive examines them in the context of
attitudes towards procreation in general
and the uncertainties surrounding the
female body in particular. In contrast
to the visual representation of the
foetus in anatomy handbooks up to the
19th century which have been widely
researched, the 20th century has – with
the exception of the history of
ultrasound – received only some
attention, despite a revolution in the
photographic representation of the
foetus in the 1960s/70s in public media.
Sauerteig traces the narratives of these
images and studies the wider cultural
context within which it became necessary
to publish foetal images for a general
public, e.g. in sex education, pregnancy
advice, anti-abortion movements.
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