Politisierungen und Normalisierung: Sexualitätsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts im deutschsprachigen Raum

In the course of the last two decades the history of sexuality of the 20th century in the German speaking countries has evolved into a broad research field. On the one hand its main focus has moved away from the first half of the century, on the other hand sexualities „deviating“ from the heterosexual norm no longer (exclusively) constitute the pivotal object of interest. Based on a sample of studies published during the last decade we argue in this overview that – despite the great variety of research topics – there are some common features. Not least we show that the implications of the theoretical debates on the history of sexuality are not always implemented – even if they are explicitly mentioned.
Nevertheless, the major part of the works reviewed here meets with the standard of these debates. Against this background we argue that narratives of emancipation or liberalization have to be analysed within the historical context of their emergence. By applying concepts such as normalization, politicisation, or therapeutization – amongst others – we show that alternative accounts are possible. „Sexuality” thus becomes comprehensible as a shifting configuration of bodies and forms of subjectivation. Furthermore we argue that various aspects of a history of sexuality in the 20th century cannot be described without reflecting the impacts of the (emerging) consumer society. Finally we ask whether the „dispositive of sexuality” really is about to lose its relevance as it recently has been claimed by some interventions within both the cultural and the academic fields.