The Unsexed Mind and Psychological Androgyny, 1790-1848

This book seeks to redefine the radical debate on gender in England between the 1790s and 1840s, examining the little-studied concept of psychological androgyny or the unsexed mind. Perceived often as a literary and aesthetic motif popular in Romantic poetry, this book examines the revival and use of this egalitarian concept on the radical margins of Protestant non-conformism. Inspired by an ethos of perfectibility, a close-knit community of writers, educationalists, ministers, and scientists, called for a revolution in the human mind. German-led advances in science pointed not to essential sexed differences but to naturally occurring androgynies, encouraging renewed interest in ancient mythical and biblical tales of androgyny. New practices were introduced into private homes and classrooms. Gender-neutral curriculums and texts books, mixed-sex classrooms, the promotion of androgynous domesticity and the rejection of female vows of obedience, were just a few practices designed to undermine arbitrary and discriminatory cultures of patriarchy.
Victoria F. Russell is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Keele University, UK.