Common Women - Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England

Zusatztext this is an admirable academic study! the product of careful research over years. Klappentext "Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as street-walkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality. Zusammenfassung A "Common Woman" in medieval England was a prostitute! distinguished as such less for taking money for sex than for belonging to all men in common. Karras's book tells the story of these women! their experiences! relations! and treatment under the law! and concludes that prostitution was central to the medieval understanding of feminity.

Product details

• Authors: Ruth Mazo Karras, Ruth Mazo (Associate Professor of History Karras
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.08.1998
• EAN: 9780195124989
• ISBN: 978-0-19-512498-9
• No. of pages: 230
• Series: Studies in the History of Sexuality; Studies in the History of Sexu; Studies in the History of Sexuality
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Middle Ages; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries