Imagining Sex: Pornography and Bodies in Seventeenth-Century EnglandOUP Oxford, 2007 M09 6 - 334 pages Imagining Sex is a study of pornographic writing in seventeenth-century England. It explores a wide variety of written material from the period to argue that, unlike today, pornography was not a discrete genre, nor was it one that was usually subject at this time to suppression. Pornographic writing was a widespread feature of a range of texts, including both popular literature (ballads, news-sheets, court reports, small books, and pamphlets) as well as poetry, drama and more specialised medical books. The book analyses representations of sex, sexuality and eroticism in historical context to explore contemporary thinking about these issues, but also about broader cultural concerns and shifts in attitudes. It questions both modern feminist and psychoanalytical interpretations of pornography, arguing that these approaches are neither appropriate nor helpful to an understanding of seventeenth-century material. Through discussions of sex and reproduction, homosexuality, flagellation, voyeurism, and humour, the book explores the nature of early modern sexual desire and arousal and explores their relationship to contemporary understandings about how the body worked. Imagining Sex presents a radically new interpretation of pornography in this period, arguing that concerns about fertility were at the heart of representations of bodies and sex, so that images of pleasure were entwined with ideas about conception and reproduction. It also shows that these texts legitimized the (sexual) pleasure of the reader by highlighting the pleasure of looking and the incitement to sexual action that it provided. |
Contents
1 | |
Publishers and Readers | 37 |
Reproduction and Sexual Pleasure | 62 |
Fantasies of Sexual Flagellation | 92 |
Imagining Homosexuality | 132 |
Voyeurism and the Illusion of Privacy | 161 |
The Comic and the Erotic | 194 |
Images of Bodies and Sex | 233 |
Conclusion | 271 |
Bibliography | 279 |
Index | 321 |
Other editions - View all
Imagining Sex: Pornography and Bodies in Seventeenth-Century England Sarah Toulalan Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
activity appears argues authors body Cambridge century chapter characters clearly Cloister Collection conception contemporary context continued culture described desire Dialogues of Luisa discussion early modern edition eighteenth century England English erotic example explicit female Figure flagellation French function further genitals History homosexual humour husband idea illustrations images imagined intended interpretation John joke kind Ladies language later Latin literature London looking Love Luisa Sigea male material means metaphor naked narratives nature orgasm pamphlets particular penis Pepys period physical play pleasure political popular pornography possible practice present printed produced prostitutes published Quakers reader reading reference reflected Relation religious Renaissance representation represented reproduction satire scenes School of Venus seen seventeenth seventeenth-century sexual acts sexual intercourse sexual pleasure social society story suggests texts translated understanding usually variety whipping Whore woman women writing York young