Problems encountered in writing the history of sexuality: Sources, theory and interpretation

As historians have begun to write about sexuality, they have encountered a wide variety of rich sources. These sources pose for the historian an array of interpretive problems involving the definition of subject matter, the bias embedded in the records, and the choice of theoretical framework. The present authors illustrate these issues by examining briefly two important historical subjects: changing definitions of sexual identity in the nineteenth century and working‐class sexuality in the twentieth century.