It's a good article, but the title is somewhat misleading. The article argues that "private life" historically meant the affairs of "gentlemen". And not privacy generally, as we think of it today. So strengthening of women's rights, for example, involved weakening "private life" protections.

But "private life" protections have also been strengthened, more generally. The right to use contraception. Gay and lesbian rights.

>But "private life" protections have also been strengthened, more generally. The right to use contraception. Gay and lesbian rights.

I think the article makes a sensible distinction here between 'personal privacy' and private space which the author calls 'aggregate privacy'.

The former is really a way for individuals to obtain autonomy and control, whereas private spaces can be used to dominate and escape from civil society.

The conception of the home as 'a man's personal castle' was probably the culmination of this. People who lost more and more control in an increasingly more open public space and expanding commons reserved their right to control their family without anybody watching.