Sodomites in the pillory in eighteenth-century London

Bartlett, Peter

Abstract

The arrival of the eighteenth century brought with it new legal attention to sodomitical behaviour. Nowhere was this more notorious and public than in the punishment of those offences in the pillory. This paper argues that the pillory was a productive space for the understanding of sodomy in this period, a place where the logic and practice of that particular punishment intersected with a new and emerging conceptualization of masculinity and erotic desire between men. The intersection between these discourses had a dynamic function: far from merely reflecting public attitudes prevalent elsewhere, the practices of the pillory helped to create the new attitudinal structure to sodomitical behaviour.

Citation

Bartlett, P. (1997). Sodomites in the pillory in eighteenth-century London. Social and Legal Studies, 6(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/096466399700600406

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 1997
• Deposit Date: Aug 21, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 21, 2012
• Journal: Social and Legal Studies
• Print ISSN: 0964-6639
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7390
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/096466399700600406
• Keywords: pillory; sodomy; attempted sodomy; eighteenth-century criminal law
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1024308
• Publisher URL: http://sls.sagepub.com/content/6/4/553.full