Sexual Crime, Religion and Masculinity in fin-de-siècle France

Timothy Verhoeven is Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University, Australia. He is the author of Transnational anti-Catholicism: France and the United States in the Nineteenth Century (2010) as well as a series of articles on the history of Catholicism, anticlericalism and masculinity.

“Verhoeven’s judicious, rich scholarship beautifully recreates the debates and animosities … This book will interest non-specialists, undergraduate and graduate students, and professors of history, French cultural studies, criminology, sexuality, and gender studies.” (Sharon P. Johnson, French Studies, Vol. 73 (2), April, 2019)“Verhoeven … showcase the continuing need for scholars to more fully integrate gender into their work, but also the need for historians of gender and sexuality to pay closer attention to religion. I highly recommend this book not only to gender historians, but also to anyone interested in the political and cultural history of the early French Third Republic.” (Andrew Israel Ross, French History, April 02, 2019)“Timothy Verhoeven’s excellent monograph on the so-called Flamidien Affair is a study of masculinity that will interest historians of the Church as well as a wider academic audience. This book speaks to a growing body of scholarship in which the analytical tool of gender is applied to the study of religious faiths and sexualities.” (Elizabeth C. Macknight, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 70 (1), January, 2019)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Gaston Foveaux: Lille and the War of Two Frances.- 3. Charles Delalé:  Republicans, celibacy and the performance of masculinity.-  4. Dr Castiaux: Legal medicine, pederasty and effeminacy at the fin-de-siècle.- 5. Cyr: Catholic masculinity and the defence of Frère Flamidien.- 6. Les Flamidiens/Les Dreyfus: the School Question and Collective Guilt.- 7. Émile Zola: “Vérité” and the aftermath of the Affair.- Index.