A History of Sex, Sexuality, and Religion in America

This course explores the relationship between, sex, sexuality, and religion in the United States over the last two centuries. We employ historical methodologies to trace how sex and sexuality have been contested and contentious issues within certain American religious contexts and focus on how religiously informed notions of sex and sexuality have touched every area of American life, including popular culture, politics, and the law. Sex not only "sells" as the old adage states, but the control and/or prohibition of sex and sexuality have set the terms for most aspects of American society.