At the time of its first appearance in 1985 Between Men was viewed as an important intervention into Feminist as well as Gay and Lesbian studies. It was an important book because it argued that "sexuality" and "desire" were not a historical phenomenon but carefully managed social constructs. This insight (that actually originated with Michael Foucault) is often viewed as anti-humanist or post-humanist because it argues that men and women are simply the products of patriarchal power relations over which they have no control. By mobilizing Foucault's theories of the history of sexuality Sedgwick re-fashions Feminism and Gay and Lesbian Studies to make it seem as though Feminism and Gay and Lesbian studies are ideally situated to continue those interventions into the history of sexuality begun by Foucault.
Gender Asymmetry and Erotic Triangles
Swan in Love The Example of Shakespeares Sonnets
The Country Wife Anatomies of Male Homosocial Desire
A Sentimental Journey Sexualism and the Citizen of the World
Toward the Gothic Terrorism and Homosexual Panic
Murder Incorporated Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Tennysons Princess One Bride for Seven Brothers
Adam Bede and Henry Esmond Homosocial Desire and the Historicity of the Female
Homophobia Misogyny and Capital The Example of Our Mutual Friend
Up the Postern Stair Edwin Drood and the Homophobia of Empire
Toward the Twentieth Century English Readers of Whitman