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The sexual practices of the nineteenth century differed greatly from those of the early twenty-first century, so much so that trying to adapt a comprehensive perspective proves to be very difficult. The forms of desire, the medical theories of pleasure, the ordinary practice of coitus, the value attributed to male virility, flirtation, the fear of venereal disease, the concern with preserving the purity of young girls, and the fascination with social outcasts all constitute historical facts worthy of the historian’s close attention.