History- Important terms and people Flashcards
Define Sex history
It is the study of ideas, laws, behaviour and sexual
identities throughout time
What did Neil Richards do?
Has the Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity
Ancient Greek perceptions on sex
Most sexual behaviours were permissible as long as it met certain conditions- largely powerful men who were married and had children, since they were powerful they were allowed to have sex with young men and boys because they were powerful. Not understood as homosexual activity, but as a display of power.
Not a world where people identified with their sexual behaviour in ancient Greece, today many identify with their sexual behaviour and activity
Early Christians perception on sex
began to stigmatize non-marital, non-procreative
sexuality activity as “sinful” whether it was with opposite sex or same
-sex partners
Women’s sexuality was viewed as particularly dangerous and
potentially de-stabilizing to society
Men’s bodies were viewed as the normal human body
15th Century (renaissance) views on sex
marriage was viewed as an important state and religious matter. Childbearing should occur after marriage, so as to make children legitimate heirs to their father’s wealth and confirm lineage
Procreation was the key form of appropriate sexuality (again linked to population growth)
Women’s sexuality was deemed of lesser importance than male sexuality, essentially women were viewed as procreative beings – their purpose to marry, have children, raise future citizens and then their tasks were done.
Define Contact Zone
Early encounters between early European settlers and the Indigenous peoples
Indigenous views on sexuality post 1492 (contact)
Indigenous peoples were more egalitarian
than European society. Women and men were free to enter into
relationships and stay as long as those relationships were
worthwhile
sexuality was not confined to monogamous relationships
children were raised by parents, extended kin and community
Political power could reside in male and female hands
Same-sex activity occurred, known by a variety of terms, now
usually referred to as Two Spirit
Define two-spirit
Someone who identifies with having both a masculine and feminine spirit
Seen as special in the community, gift from the creator
May regard same sex activity or cross gendered behaviour
Reclaimed in 1980s
Samuel Champlain
1609- established settlement in Quebec city
What was the goal of the Jesuit Missionaries?
convert the Indigenous people to Catholicism, wanted to “recivilize” the new world
Pushed for strict church sanctified marriages forgetting the fluid community values.
Wanted Indigenous-European marriages to resemble family standards in Europe
Define Homosocial
existing in a world of men, socially interacting with mainly men
Many fur traders were outcasts in European societies and didn’t mind not conforming to European norms
What was the middle ground era
Where early settlers chose FN norms of marriage and sexuality
Adopted “country marriages”
What ended the middle ground era
too many damn settlers
Jamestown
Virginia - 1607
one of the first settlements in America with individual male settlers
Europeans lived with FN culture
Tobacco industry
Relations between slaves and slave owners were originally permitted
Pilgrims to America
Nov 1620- mayflower
Pilgrims that settled in new england wanted to get away from the church of england, because they (the church) wasnt religious enough
Believed in predestination meaning everything is pre determined
Calvinist and Puritan sects
Massachusetts Bay Colony
1628
established on a firmer European foundation
Colonial Government
Harvard in 1636 to train Puritan ministers
Settled as families
Define Prescriptive Literature
Literature that tells people how to live
Puritan worldview: Surveillance and punishment
task is to be a better England
All adults had to live in a marital or family unit
To encourage marriage but also surveillance
sex that didn’t produce children was a crime and considered a waste of resources
thought that if a woman enjoyed sex, the kids would turn out better
saw women as “lustful beings”
Puritan (New England) Crimes
Laws prohibiting sex outside of marriage
Sodomy, buggery and bestiality were punishable by the death penalty.
Rape, masturbation and adultery were crimes, but punishments less severe
Puritan Family Life
Colonial families were own primary productive unit, grew own food, taught own kids
Believed that the entire community would be held accountable for the sins of an individual
Families having children every 2-3 years, most kids aren’t surviving
Women’s legal and religious power is virtually none. Women had social power within the household, but if dysfunction occurred women were hung to dry
Sodomy
homosexual acts between men
Miscegenation
the interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types.
Southern Colonies crimes
severe sexual crimes for mixed race unions, particular those of African men and English women – a crime punishable by lynching
In english colonies- children of white and black couples were considered African American
Sally Hemmings
1773-1835
best known African American slave family in the United States thanks to the fact they are descendents of President Thomas Jefferson.
Jacques Cartier
Founded New France in 1534
New France
Cartier 1534 (founder)
Dechamplain 1608– started building there/ established Quebec
Reverts to rule by King, Louis XIV in 1663, insists that settlement increase (had brought 2500 people from France), that the church provide religious instruction and that the colony should attempt to become self-sufficient and hopefully, add to the wealth and prestige of the French empire
6-1 male to female ratio
Marie de l’Incarnation
1599-1672
arrived in Quebec in 1639, founding the Ursuline Convents, and ultimately was one of the founders of the colony of New France.
Felt compelled to go to Canada / New France. Determined to bring the French church there
worked with Indigenous First Nations – learning their language, teaching, and translating a bible into Algonquin
denoted the “Mother of new France” postmortem
Possibly an example of women joining convents to avoid getting married or pregnant
Filles du Roi
Daughters of the King
850 women were sent to New France
many of these women were poor, offered a fresh start
Provided with a dowery, new clothes, some household items to make them attractive marriage prospects
Laws made it a requirement that the “filles du roi” be married shortly after their arrival in the colony
These women could make some economic decisions regarding marriage because they were so sought after and could be picky
Marriage norms in New France
People married young and often multiple times
French settlers continued to marry Indigenous women; the unbalanced sex ratio favoured women and the option of the convent allowed for women who didn’t want to marry to have “profession”
French civil law, women and men owned property equally and so women were more secure, economically, in old age
French norms of marriage remained in place until well after the American revolution of 1776 and the arrival of American “loyalists”
Conquest of Quebec
1759
New France falls to British control, becomes part of BNA
American Revolutionary War / War of Independance
1775-1783
USA created
Loyalists
people loyal to the British crown
left US and emigrated to BNA
two new colonies were created to provide homes for the loyalists- New Brunswick and Upper Canada
War of 1812
1812
Waves of British immigrants went to BNA after war
John Graves Simcoe
First Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada
Married to Elizabeth Graves Simcoe
Emigrated 1791
Lived in Niagra and York (later Toronto) where the colonial governments were created
