Sexual Hegemony

Statecraft, Sodomy, and Capital in the Rise of the World System

240 pages

English language

Published Nov. 28, 2020 by Duke University Press.

ISBN:
978-1-4780-0958-0
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3 stars (1 review)

3 editions

Review of 'Sexual Hegemony' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Sexual Hegemony was a pretty interesting read. I read it with friends as a part of a reading group following Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, both sharing a similar timeline where their historical analysis focuses and teases out ideas around sexuality and/or gender and the construction and repression of these ideas in the formation of Capitalist world systems.

I found Chitty's approach interesting by telling a working-class, queer history which draws on sources from court records and documents. His sources combine with his narrative to describe in detail the persecution of men for violating sodomy laws and paint us a picture of life and desire among young men in the cities whose way of life and desire are made by the world around them.

The most interesting points I got from this book were chitty pushing back on the cultural roots of modern homosexuality being so heavily influenced …