Sexuality

“Wise and Valiant: Women and Writing in the Golden Age of Spain” spotlights Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (left) and Catalina de Erauso (right), among others.

Remembering the Forgotten Women Writers of 17th-Century Spain

A show in Madrid highlights female authors who penned histories, biographies, poetry, novels, scripts and more

LGBTQ+ Pride at the Smithsonian

Read our newest stories about LGBTQ+ arts, culture and history, as well as a list of events around the Smithsonian related to Pride

Mapping the Gay Guides’ main function is preserving and publicizing an overlooked, under-studied chapter in LGBTQ history.

This Interactive Map Visualizes the Queer Geography of 20th-Century America

Mapping the Gay Guides visualizes local queer spaces' evolution between 1965 and 1980

Archaeologist Kate Kolwicz examines fragments of late 19th-century Chinese pottery unearthed in downtown Missoula.

Remnants of a 19th-Century Red-Light District and Chinatown Unearthed in Montana

A trove of artifacts reveals the town of Missoula's remarkable and diverse past

By the time of his arrest in 1953, Rustin was profoundly committed to non-violent resistance.

Gay Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin Posthumously Pardoned in California

The openly gay Rustin was convicted during the 1950s under laws targeting LGBTQ individuals

John Addington Symonds, whose 1873 essay "A Problem in Greek Ethics" helped lay the foundation for the modern gay rights movement

Researchers Recover an Early Copy of a 19th-Century Gay Rights Essay

This once-lost copy of "A Problem in Greek Ethics" is only the sixth of its kind

Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" finds its subject striking a contrapposto pose

Why Viewers Are Drawn to Renaissance Artists' Go-To Pose

A new study finds that the contrapposto stance reduces the waist-to-hip ratio, an attribute popularly associated with attractiveness

Ping incubates the egg as Skipper keeps guard.

Two Male Penguins in Berlin Join Long Line of Same-Sex Pairs to Adopt an Egg

Skipper and Ping have happily nurtured everything from rocks to fish before zookeepers let them incubate an egg

Alan Turing Will Be the New Face of Britain’s £50 Note

Persecuted at the end of his life, the British mathematician and code-breaker is now widely admired as a father of computer science

From left to right: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Jane Vercaine, Barbara Deming, Kady Vandeurs, Carol Grosberg and others lead a protest at City Hall

New York City Monument Will Honor Transgender Activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

The two women were instrumental in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and spent their lives advocating for marginalized groups

Bonobo Mothers Interfere in Their Sons' Monkey Business

They find suitable mates for their offspring and chase away intruders once the mating begins, boosting fertility rates

Carolee Schneemann, "Eye Body #11," 1963

Carolee Schneemann Pioneered the Way Women's Bodies Were Seen

The multidisciplinary artist, who died this month at 79, used her body as a canvas to produce works that celebrated female sexuality

Blair Hall, a dormitory at Princeton University that was built in 1897 and continues to house students today

The Evolution of the College Dorm Chronicles How Colleges Became Less White and Male

What the architecture and history of student housing tell us about higher education

Interior of the British Library in London

The British Library’s Dirtiest Books Have Been Digitized

The collection includes around 2,500 volumes and many, many double entendres

Tom Hanks (center) won an Oscar for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett, a gay man suffering from AIDS.

Looking Back at 'Philadelphia,' 25 Years Later

What would the breakthrough movie about the AIDS crisis look like if it were made today?

Ganymedes and the heron.

Recently Unearthed Roman Latrine Was Full of Dirty Jokes

Mosaics uncovered in a Roman bathroom in modern-day Turkey reminds us that bathroom humor has ancient roots

Anemonefish, also known as clownfish, are born androgynous and can shift from male to female in one lifetime.

Alternatives to Heterosexual Pairings, Brought to You By Non-Human Animals

No one quite has this sex thing figured out, but these non-binary animals have some good ideas

‘Our Bodies, Ourselves,’ the Revolutionary Feminist Health Book, Will No Longer Print New Editions

In the 1970s, the book promoted nonjudgemental discussions about women’s sexual and reproductive health

Casanova Is Getting a Museum

The womanizer and Enlightenment polymath will be memorialized with an interactive museum in Venice opening April 2

French philosopher Michael Foucault in a studio during a radio broadcast in Paris, France, on December 16, 1981.

Unfinished Volume of Foucault’s ‘History of Sexuality’ Released in France

Foucault did not want the work to be published posthumously, but his family and heirs decided that the time had come for the book to be released

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