This unit explores some popular conceptions (and misconceptions) of sex and sexuality in everyday life, and uses a social constructionist approach to critically evaluate these. It explores the history of ideas about sex and sexuality in Western culture, focusing on the social and political changes associated with modernity. It uses sociological insights and theories to examine the process by which heterosexuality became and remains the norm of erotic expression. The course uses both historical and contemporary material, ranging from attitudes in Classical Antiquity, through the impact of Christianity to the more familiar changes during the 18th and 19th centuries to the present day.