‘We or them,’ ‘you and I,’ and ‘I’: spaces of intimacy and (not so) public displays of affection in Hanoi

Through an exploratory study of romantic heterosexual couples in a public park situated in Hanoi’s outskirts, this article offers a conceptual rethinking of a western understanding of the park’s public/private dichotomy which can then be used to better appreciate how these categories are evolving in western urbanizing societies and their impacts on gender relations. By developing a relational, spatialized understanding of how young romantic couples justify their ‘transgressive’ displays of sexual intimacy in public spaces in contemporary urban Vietnam, this article focuses on how couples, especially women, manage their visibility. This analysis confronts the public civilizational discourse on Vietnamese sexual restraint by analyzing how young couples justify their romantic displays by creating an intimate space within a public environment. This space of visible intimacy is justified through their commitment to marriage. For the individuals involved in these romantic couples, visibility is justified, particularly for young women, through the enjoyment of a newly gained sexual autonomy as they migrate to the city.     

"Yea, I have a goodly heritage": health versus heredity in the Fitter Family contests, 1920-1928

By the 1920s, the future of the middle-class family had become a topic of great concern for mainstream Americans. This widespread concern led to a new acceptance of the discussion of sexual and marital issues in print and in public. Within this public discussion, eugenicists, physicians, clerics, sociologists, and various others offered solutions to the questions and concerns of their rapidly changing society. The Fitter Family contests, sponsored by eugenicists and held at state fairs in the 1920s, reflected these public and professional anxieties. Though infused with eugenic ideas about race betterment through better breeding, the contests were equally concerned with improving the health of individuals and strengthening American families.