Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe

1. Nationalism and
Sexuality
Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe
Class presentation, Anthropology and the Erotic Other,
October 16, 2012 , CEU
Delivered by Shushan Harutyunyan

2. Gorge L. Mosse (1918- 1999)
 German-born American cultural historian.
 The author of over 25 books, on topics as diverse
as constitutional history, Protestant theology, and
the history of masculinity, he is best known for his
studies of Nazism.
 At the University of Wisconsin, George Mosse was
a charismatic and inspiring teacher. Mosse's
popularity was not only due to the fact that he
laced his critical skepticism with humor, irony and
empathy; he also applied his historical knowledge
to contemporary issues, attempting to be fair to
opposing views while remaining true to his own
principles. / from Wikipedia
 The George L. Mosse Program in History at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, with photos,
audio recordings of lectures, and other resources -
http://history.wisc.edu/mosse/mosse.htm
 The George L. Mosse Program in History at the
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
http://mosse.huji.ac.il/default.asp
 Website of the "Mosse Lectures" series at the
Humboldt University of Berlin (in German)
http://www.mosse-

3. Nationalism and Sexuality: Respectability and
Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe May
(1985)
 “Mosse strives to show
how concepts of sexuality
haunted bourgeois society
and nationalism, to be
acknowledged yet curbed,
deflected from the
physical onto an ideal
stereotype of male and
female beauty”.
 In the review of the book in Goodreads.com

4. Nationalism and
Respectability
 Nationalism - a term indicating “decent and
correct” manners and morals as well as proper
attitude toward sexuality.
 Respectabilities - the manners, morals, and
sexual attitudes to “maintain” the status and self-
respect against both the lower classes and
aristocracy in bourgeois society.
The caricature by
The Kathmandu Post

5. A little more leniency to lechery
would do no harm…
 Reinterpretation of religious concepts:
(from indecent posture and gestures to
unnecessary laughter and more…)
Germany, 1820
 “Bowdlerizing” literature: Shakespeare's
Hamlet’s question to Ophelia “Lady, shall I
lie in your lap?” was substituted to lying
down at Ophelia's feet”. England,1818
 “Decoding” art: for the nakedness of
Greek sculpture might undermine
respectability. (There is no connection
between perfect beauty and the desire to
Hamlet and Ophelia.
perform sexual act with such beauty. There Lithographic print by
were homosexuals, but their sexuality Edward H. Bell, 1879.
Public domain.
quite well known at the time, was ignored

6. Actors in “healing” the society
 Education: J.F. Bertrand’s museum in Paris in 1775.
Graphically documented what was to become a general
prejudice (masturbators, like those infected with venereal
disease, were pale, hollow-eyed, weak body and spirit. Most
of the figures were portrayed as near death, exhausted by
masturbation, one young masturbator was shown to have
lost his penis)
 Doctors: The appearance of and character of each
individual was classified as normal or abnormal:
nervousness was supposedly induced by the practice of
vice, while virility and manly bearing were signs of virtue.
 The society itself: Family becomes one of the policemen
of sexuality. Family gives support from below to that
respectability which nation attempted to enforce from above.

7. The new ideals and concepts
 “Nationalism helped to control sexuality, providing means
through which changing sexual attitudes could be absorbed and
tamed into respectability. It assumed sexual dimension of its
own, coming to advocate a stereotype of supposedly
“passionless” beauty for both men and women”.
 Nationalism reinforced control by redirecting men’s passions to
a higher purpose and by projecting a stereotype of human
beauty which supposedly transcended sensuousness.
 The masturbation was considered an anti-social act. The
masturbator practices a lonely vice, he loves no one and is dead
to the all call of family, nation, and humanity. The love of
secrecy and the practice of vice not only made men and women
outsiders in respectable society but was a danger to the
security of the state.
( by the end of 18th centaury), p 10-11

8. Manliness and Homosexuality
 During the wars of the French Revolution, citizen
armies replaced professionals, as in England and
Germany many middle-class volunteers rushed to
the colors, inspired by the love of their nation and
desire to prove their manhood.
 “I return from a bloody
quarrel fought out
among men” – Ernst
Moritz Arndt, 1813
returning from the Battle
of Leipzig (the prophet
of German nationalism)

9. The ideal of manliness in the self -
image of the bourgeoisie
 Manliness symbolized the nation’s spiritual and material
virility. It called for strength of body and mind, but not
brute force – the individual’s energies had to be kept
under control.
 The female symbols were sedate rather than dynamic.
The image of woman in iconography was frequently
fashioned after traditional portrayals of Virgin Mary.
However…
 Women were becoming increasingly like men and men
like women; sexual differentiation had to be maintained
if culture was to flourish. (Albert Moll, physician)
 Masculine - feminine dualism is in jeopardy (Havelock
Ellis, sexologist)

10. Homosexuality is condemned as an act committed against
the divine order, therefore against nature. Such acts led to
divine retribution, not only rebellions and revolutions, but
also natural catastrophes.
Karl Briullov – Last Day of Pompey (1830-33)

11. Reconsideration of
homosexuality
 The doctors who did the most to stimulate awareness of
homosexuality replaced the ministers of religion as the
guardians of normatively.
 Darwinist ideas amplified the nationalist animus against
the abnormal to have a healthy national organism free
of hereditary disease and moral weakness.
 But now sexual morality becomes private concern as
long as it did not interfere with the rights of others.
 So-called abnormality is no longer confined to individual
sexual acts, but is part of his/her psychological makeup,
looks and bodily structure.
 Now homosexuals are to be accepted as legitimate
members of society, although “others” continued to
exemplify human degeneration.
 Homosexuality – intellectual excellence and highly
developed spiritual faculties.

12. Nationalism; to transcend the
border between masculine and
feminine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG-DQZAsb28

13. Thank you!

14. Questions 
 How Max Nordau’s statement that “the
legitimacy of all desires must be judged by
the standards of society” finds its modern
installation in modern world now?
 How much benefits patriotism can bring in
monetary values when it “confronts” the
sexual freedoms in the modern world? What
changes in tactics have taken place in
comparison to 1800s?
 What do you think, how much sexual freedom
the society needs still to be controllable under
nationalism values?