The Sexual State ― Sexuality and Scottish Governance 1950-80

"How did the Scottish government respond to sexual attitudes and behaviour in the period 1950 to 1980? In exploring the role of the state in the regulation of modern sexuality, historians have largely overlooked the policy-making process in Scotland. Davidson and Davis lead us through the Scottish sexual landscape leading up to the global crisis of HIV/AIDS, analysing post-war state policy towards issues such as abortion, family planning, homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, sex education and sexualheath. How progressive were Scottish policy makers during this period of rapid social change? The book charts the ongoing struggle between progressive and moralistic agendas within sexual politics at both a national and local level. How far did the puritanical elements of Scottish Presbyterianism continue to inhibit policy and to what degree did policy makers empower a broader range of sexual behaviours and moderate the traditional surveillance and censure of female sexuality? Finally, in what respects did Scotland's national identity affect the engagement of the Scottish state with sexual issues?" [Publisher's description].

Roger Davidson is Emeritus Professor of Social History at the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely on the history of medical and governmental responses to sexual issues since 1870. He is the author of Dangerous Liaisons: A Social History of Venereal Disease in Twentieth-Century Scotland, Routledge (2000), and co-editor of Sex, Sin and Suffering: Venereal Disease and European Society since 1870, Routledge (2001) and Shaping Sexual Knowledge: A Cultural History of Sex Education in Twentieth- Century Europe, Routledge (2009).

Dr Gayle Davis is Wellcome Lecturer in the History of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She has published on the social history of medicine and sexuality, including 'The Cruel Madness of Love': Sex, Syphilis and Psychiatry in Scotland, 1880-1930 (Rodopi, Amsterdam and Atlanta, 2008).