Women,Gender,Sexuality Studies 291S - S-Scandal! Politics/SexScandal

Sex scandals have proven to be an enduring part of political discourse from the ancient times to the present. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, exiled his daughter Julia after her philandering discredited his moral reforms; during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was accused of sleeping with men, women, and even her own son; and more recently, an unverified report from Buzzfeed involving Donald Trump and certain Moscow mattresses raised eyebrows and ire. Although sex scandals are often dismissed as lurid distractions from "real" political issues, in this course we will take them seriously as elements of political discourse. Through a close study of a number of political sex scandals, both past and present, students will consider the following questions: How and why are issues of sexuality morality tied to political legitimacy? Why is sex a useful discourse for expressing political discontent? How do issues of race, class, religion, and region influence the shape of sex scandals?