Work

‘lay experts’: women's social purity groups and the politics of sexuality in Switzerland, 1890–1915

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: Women's social purity groups were significant participants in the debates of the regulation of sexualities during the unification process of Swiss Criminal Law between the 1890s and the 1930s. Although not yet enfranchised, women claimed political participation through their status as ‘lay experts’ with regard to sexual matters and as an interest group with backing from their male counterparts. The article examines their demands in the reformulation of the regulation of sexualities and investigates their aims and strategies. Their expertise, gained through the experience of and investment in ‘moral guardianship’, is examined here in relation to their interventions on the age of protection, or the age of consent in contemporary terms. As ‘lay experts’ on sexual morality, the women's social purity groups participated in the increased interests and discourses of sexuality between 1890 and 1915 in the midst of legal, medical and political experts.

Source: Women s History Review

DOI: 10.1080/09612020400200412

Author: Natalia Gerodetti

Institution: University of Lausanne

Language: English

Topic: Historical Gender and Feminism Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Gender equality

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: University of Leeds, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Université de Lausanne