Overview

In the first half of the twentieth century, white elites who dominated Virginia politics sought to increase state control over African Americans and lower-class whites, whom they saw as oversexed and lacking sexual self-restraint. In order to reaffirm the existing political and social order, white politicians legalized eugenic sterilization, increased state efforts to control venereal disease and prostitution, cracked down on interracial marriage, and enacted state-wide movie censorship. Providing a detailed picture of the interaction of sexuality, politics, and public policy, Pippa Holloway explores how these measures were passed and enforced. The white elites who sought to expand government's role in regulating sexual behavior had, like most southerners, a tradition of favoring small government, so to justify these new policies, they couched their argument in economic terms: a modern, progressive government could provide optimum conditions for business growth by maintaining a stable social order and a healthy, docile workforce. Holloway's analysis demonstrates that the cultural context that characterized certain populations as sexually dangerous worked in tandem with the political context that denied them the right to vote. This perspective on sexual regulation and the state in Virginia offers further insight into why white elite rule mattered in the development of southern governments.

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9780807830512

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Reviews

Deeply researched. . . . Recommended. <br> -- CHOICE

Deeply researched. . . . Recommended. -- CHOICE

Holloway does an impressive job of demonstrating the relevance of sexual regulation to maintaining existing power relations. . . . She offers a compelling portrait of how a seemingly progressive agenda of public health and economic development in fact contributed to maintaining an older order of exclusion. <br> a Virginia Magazine

Persuasively argued and well-researched. . . . The significance of Holloway's study lies in reassessing Southern culture and politics . . . and ultimately making abundantly clear how vital the study of sexuality is to broader narratives in American history.--Journal of Social History <p/>

Author Information

PIPPA HOLLOWAY is associate professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.

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