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Book Cover
Book
Author Bongiorno, Frank, 1969-

Title The sex lives of Australians : a history / Frank Bongiorno
Published Collingwood, Vic. : Black Inc., © 2012
Collingwood, Victoria : Black Inc., [2012]

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  306.70994 Bon/Slo  DUE 03-04-24
Description xv, 352 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
regular print
Contents Foreword -- Introduction -- 1. Founding sexualities.-- 2. The Victorian scene -- 3. A pleasant amusement -- 4. The foe within ourselves -- 5. Tabbies, amateurs and the cream of Australian manhood -- 6. Fast times -- 7. War and peace -- 8. Sexual revoltion -- 9. Toleration, liberation, backlash
Summary Cross-dressing convicts, effeminate bushrangers and women-shortage woes - here is the first ever history of sex in Australia, from Botany Bay to the present-day. In this readable social history, the author uses vivid examples to chart the changing sex lives of Australians. He shows how a predominantly male penal colony gave rise to a rough and ready culture: the scarcity of women made for strange bedfellows, and the female minority was both powerful and vulnerable. Then came the Victorian era, in which fears of sodomy helped bring an end to the transportation of convicts. Tracing the story all the way to the present, Bongiorno shows how the quest for respectability always has another side to it, and how the contraceptive pill changed so much. Along the way he deals with some intriguing questions - were the Kelly gang gay? Why did the law ignore lesbianism for so long? - and introduces some remarkable characters, both reformers and radicals. This is the thought-provoking story of sex in Australia
Analysis Australian
Cultural values
History
National characteristics
Sex & sexuality (Australia)
Sex behaviour
Social change
Social history (Australia)
Social values
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-344) and index
Audience Tertiary/Undergraduate, General
Notes Shortlisted, Australian history, Prime Minister's Literary Awards, 2013
Subject Australians -- Sexual behavior -- History.
Australians -- Sexual behavior -- Political aspects.
Australians -- Sexual behaviour -- History
Australians -- Sexual behaviour -- Political aspects
Australians -- Social life and customs -- History.
Sex customs -- Australia -- History.
Sex customs -- Political aspects -- Australia.
Social change -- Australia -- History.
Sexual Behavior -- history.
Politics.
Social Change -- history.
SUBJECT Australia -- Social life and customs. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008114315
Australia. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D001315
LC no. 2013412743
ISBN 1863955674 (paperback)
9781863955676 (paperback)