Fear Of "unnatural Acts": Law And Sexuality In London, 1500-1800

Abstract

Eighteenth-century London experienced a prosecution wave attempting to eradicate sodomy from the city. Discovered and exposed to the public by journalists, the "public outing" of molly houses and their patrons made them a target for the newly formed Societies for the Reformation of Manners. Through the analysis of Society-produced pamphlets, newspaper articles, and trial records, this thesis will show that a rise in Protestantism in England after the Glorious Revolution, along with the changes to masculinity in Europe, led to the prosecution wave against London's sodomites. While the organizations would eventually dissolve, the fear and hatred they helped to promote would continue for centuries, laying the foundation for what would be consider homophobia in the mid-twentieth century.