Invention of Heterosexuality

Katz Jonathan Ned

"Heterosexuality", assumed to denote a universal sexual and cultural norm, has been largely exempt from critical scrutiny. In this boldly original work, Jonathan Ned Katz challenges the common notion that the distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality has been a timeless one. Building on the history of medical terminology, he reveals that as late as 1923, the term "heterosexuality" referred to a "morbid sexual passion", and that its current usage emerged to legitimate men and women having sex for pleasure. Drawing on the works of Sigmund Freud, James Baldwin, Betty Friedan, and Michel Foucault, "The Invention of Heterosexuality" considers the effects of heterosexuality's recently forged primacy on both scientific literature and popular culture.

About the Author

Jonathan Ned Katz is the author of many books, including "Gay American History" and "Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality", the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

"Superb and iconoclastic critique of the history of heterosexuality" – Richard Horton, New York Review of Books

"A pioneer in gay history now breaks new ground in uncovering the origins of heterosexuality. Not for the faint-hearted, this book is funny, compassionate, and seemingly all-knowing" – Edmund White

"A necessary, important, and brilliant work" – Samuel R. Delaney

Back to the list of books