Abstract

In the 1970s, and throughout her life, sexologist Charlotte Wolff championed considerations of sexuality that accounted for multiplicity of thought and the socially experienced lives of queer people. These factors made her unique in the fields of sexology and psychoanalysis because these considerations were disregarded much until that point and even beyond. However, her works have been disregarded by scholarship and thought in fields relating to psychology, gender studies, and history. Her two seminal sexological works Love Between Women and Bisexuality: A Study were significant to the field in their methodology and coverage of topics at the time of their release in 1971 and 1977 respectively. In addition to the sexological works, she published works in chirology, the science of hand study, a singular novel, autobiographies, and a biography. Wolff conducted her studies with personal involvement, a disregard for maintaining false objectivity, precise language for queer intimacies, and futurity of identity. These aspects of her work perpetuated her liminal status as a Jewish German refugee and position as a ‘homoemotional’ woman. Through viewing her sexological and autobiographical works, this thesis traces the path of her life, nexus of identities, and theoretical framework to arrive an understanding of Wolff’s importance to the field of sexology, memory she gives narrative to, and experience of sexuality in the twentieth century.

Advisor

Biro-Walters, Jordan

Second Advisor

Procotr, Brittnay

Department

History; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | History | Jewish Studies | Women's History

Keywords

sexology, women's studies, history

Publication Date

2019

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2019 Abby Lang