Dancing, Delinquency, & Disease: A History of Sex and Dating
Taught by Erin Wuebker
Erin Wuebker is an historian who specializes in public health, visual culture, and the history of women, gender, and sexuality. She received her PhD in American history from CUNY Graduate Center. Currently she teaches at Queens College and works at the Museum of the City of New York and Brooklyn Historical Society. If you like tweets about VD propaganda or history, follow her at @erinewuebker.
At the turn of the 20th century, young people starting dating. While previous generations in the US had courted potential spouses in their own homes with their parents present, men and women were now picking each other up in dancehalls, meeting for cocktails in bars, and snuggling up in movie theaters. Increasingly, young people also became more accepting of sexual intimacy in the context of dating, rather that waiting until marriage. These new attitudes and behaviors were often troubling to parents, social workers, politicians, community groups, and others concerned with the morals, social development, and health of young people. As a result, issues like juvenile delinquency, venereal disease, and sexual education took on new importance as American culture debated the meaning of these new norms.
In this class, we’ll look at these changes and consider how gender and class in particular have shaped conflicts over sex and dating in the US with an emphasis on popular visual culture. Films, posters, & photographs not only create a window into the dating lives of Americans in the early 20th century, but also the fears and anxieties associated with these drastic changes.
