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Description of  Vita Sexualis: Karl Ulrichs and the Origins of Sexual Science

by Ralph M. Leck (Author) Karl Ulrichs's studies of sexual diversity galvanized the burgeoning field of sexual science in the nineteenth century. But in the years since, his groundbreaking activism has overshadowed his scholarly achievements. Ulrichs publicly defied Prussian law to agitate for gay equality and marriage, and founded the world's first organization dedicated to the legal and social emancipation of homosexuals. Ralph M. Leck returns Ulrichs to his place as the inventor of the science of sexual heterogeneity. Leck's analysis situates sexual science in a context that includes politics, aesthetics, the languages of science, and the ethics of gender. Although he was the greatest nineteenth-century scholar of sexual heterogeneity, Ulrichs retained certain traditional conjectures about gender. Leck recognizes these subtleties and employs the analytical concepts of modernist vita sexualis and traditional psychopathia sexualis to articulate philosophical and cultural differences among sexologists. Original and audacious, Vita Sexualis uses a bedrock figure's scientific and political innovations to open new insights into the history of sexual science, legal systems, and Western amatory codes. Review An intriguing study with a quite synthetic thesis and extremely erudite analysis. Will be of interest to a wide range of scholars: historians of medicine, science, sexuality, various branches of philosophy, as well as cultural and social historians of Europe.Robert Beachy, author of Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity "A superlatively researched, richly detailed history of sexual science from its start in the late-1800s through the mid-1900s Highly recommended."Choice "Ralph Leck tackles the contributions of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs to sexual science with erudition and passion. Vita Sexualis gives Ulrichs his rightful place in the story of the struggle to conceptualize homosexuality as a natural sexual variation and to forge a politics of inclusion and equality for sexual minorities. No one interested in the history of sexual thought can afford to miss this book."Leila J. Rupp, author of Sapphistries: A Global History of Love between Women "[Vita Sexualis] provides a strikingly affirmative alternative to much recent postmodern discourse. . . . For any student of gay history and liberation, this refreshing work will prove instructive and will, I predict, be viewed as a key text pointing toward a new literature on the revolutionary nature of gay identity arising after three decades of nihilistic post-modernism."Gay & Lesbian Review