This course explores the shifting and contested meanings and experiences of sex and sexuality, primarily in North America, from the pre-colonial period to the present. We will pay close attention to themes including the development of sexual identities and the construction of sexual subjectivity; the role of sexual practices and ideologies in creating and maintaining social hierarchies of class, race, and gender; and the interplay between politics and sexuality. Topics include colonial American attitudes toward sexuality; Victorian sexual ideology; the shifting boundary between "normality" and "deviance"; the emergence of "modern" sexual identities; the formation of diverse lesbian and gay communities; the "sexual revolutions" of the 1910s and 1960s; and representations of AIDS/HIV. Format: discussion. Evaluation will be based on class participation, a series of short critical responses, a short essay, and a final research paper. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected: 30). Open to all. Group A