Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience

This work explores the sexual attitudes and activities of those who ran the British Empire. The study explains the pervasive importance of sexuality in the Victorian Empire, both for individuals and as a general dynamic in the working of the system.  It begins with an examination of the nature of sexuality and of its influence on individuals. The book considers the behaviour of members of the imperial ruling elite, and examines their attitude to marriage and the relationship between their private lives and service of the empire. It looks at sexual opportunity in some different types of imperial situation, both formal and informal, in an attempt to see how sexual interaction underpinned the operative structures of British expansion.