Synopses & Reviews
An exploration of the construction of sexual difference and gender identity in eighteenth-century England.
Review
"In this ambitious and wide-ranging survey, Harvey focuses on how 18th century Britons thought about bodies and sexbroad enough to embrace the interest of both beginners and specialists."
-Choice"Harvey has marshaled an impressive array of printed primary source materials in her history of erotic culture. Reading Sex is also an admirable interdisciplinary history, drawing upon a wide variety of secondary sources which range from anthropological research on menstruation to psychoanalytic accounts of male bodies. She places the erotic culture of England in the wider context of Europe, showing an awareness of the rich historiography already present for eighteenth-century French pornography in particular. The book is beautifully written, and Harvey does an excellent job of making complex theoretical concepts accessible to readers."
-H-Albion, Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Department of History, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario
Synopsis
Exploring the texts and images of eighteenth century erotica, and rooting this evidence firmly in historical context, Karen Harvey provides a thoroughgoing critique of the orthodoxy of recent work on sexual difference in the history of the body. She argues that eighteenth-century English erotic culture combined a distinctive mode of writing and reading in which the form of refinement was applied to the matter of sex. This book provides a new perspective on sexual difference, the body and gender and advocates a new approach to change in gender history.
Table of Contents
1. Contexts; 2. Sexual difference; 3. Female bodies; 4. Male bodies; 5. Space; 6. Movement; 7. Pleasure.