Abstract

NUNEZ B., Fernanda. Secrets for a Happy Marriage. Gender and Sexuality in the Second Half of the 19th Century. Estud. hist. mod. contemp. Mex [online]. 2007, n.33, pp.5-32. ISSN 0185-2620.

On the basis of the abundant medical-prescriptive literature about hygiene of marriage, the author shows how it was used as a "scientific" instrument for shoring up gender construction within the family in the design of this new modern nation that began during the second half of the 19th century in Mexico. Hygiene of marriage was written by doctors to provide health tips and enable married couples to live together in har-mony. These manuals enable one to discover the new economy of drives that the authorities sought to impose on married couples in the 19th century, since it was also the place where physicians allowed them-selves to talk about "that thing" which would soon be called sexuality.

Keywords : cultural history; 19^th century hygiene; medicine; obstetrics; gender; sexuality; marriage; female body; history of the family.

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