Historic Heteroessentialism and Other Orderings in Early America

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this essay is to highlight recent trends in the field of women's and gender history in early North America and to demonstrate why it holds value for feminist academics and activists alike. The essay focuses on two major themes in the field—one very old: the impact of the American Revolution on women's educational, political, and social opportunities; and one very new: the history of sexuality in early America. The books reviewed here address issues of power, agency, oppression, and change. Analytical categories such as race, gender, and sexuality frame the most exciting new work, offering textured perspectives on the use, abuse, and distribution of power in various realms of society. And yet, like most historical studies, even these works are limited in their attempt to consider the role that heterosexuality plays in giving meaning and stability to both individual subjects and larger systems like the family, the household economy, the market economy, and the state's need for able‐bodie...