Download or read book Harlots Whores Hackabouts written by Kate Lister and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authored by one of the most original contemporary thinkers on the subject, this book is an enlightening illustrated cultural history of the sex trade that puts sex workers center stage, revealing how they have lived and worked all around the globe. The history of selling sex is a hidden one—and too often its practitioners are pushed to the margins of history. This book redresses the balance, revealing the history of the sex trade through the eyes of sex workers, from medieval streets to Wild West saloons, and from brothels to state bedrooms. These enthralling tales are brought to life by Whores of Yore creator Kate Lister’s witty and authoritative text, and illuminated by a rich archive of photographs, artworks, and objects offering insight into sex workers’ lives, challenging assumptions about this age-old trade. Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts’ chapters are structured thematically in a broadly chronological order, each one introducing a lively cast of complex and entertaining characters operating in an array of different periods, locations, and settings. In ancient Mesopotamia, the harlot Shamhat was powerful and respected, able to civilize the wild man Enkidu through her charms. In medieval London, Elizabeth Moryng serviced religious clergy under the guise of an embroidery business, though she was eventually jailed for being a prolific panderer and bawd. In the hedonistic floating world of Edo, Japan, Kabuki actresses and geishas entertained and pleasured their patrons. Lister’s engaging and illuminating tales invite readers to look, listen, and reconsider everything they thought they knew about the world’s oldest profession. Together, these captivating tales of sex workers from around the world and throughout history provide a powerful context to contemporary debates about sexuality and the empowerment of women.
Download or read book A Curious History of Sex written by Kate Lister and published by Unbound Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is not a comprehensive study of every sexual quirk, kink and ritual across all cultures throughout time, as that would entail writing an encyclopaedia. Rather, this is a drop in the ocean, a paddle in the shallow end of sex history, but I hope you will get pleasantly wet nonetheless. The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatise particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow – hopefully for the better – but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from. Based on the popular research project Whores of Yore, and written with her distinctive humour and wit, A Curious History of Sex draws upon Dr Kate Lister’s extensive knowledge of sex history. From medieval impotence tests to twentieth-century testicle thefts, from the erotic frescoes of Pompeii, to modern-day sex doll brothels, Kate unashamedly roots around in the pants of history, debunking myths, challenging stereotypes and generally getting her hands dirty. This fascinating book is peppered with surprising and informative historical slang, and illustrated with eye-opening, toe-curling and meticulously sourced images from the past. You will laugh, you will wince and you will wonder just how much has actually changed.
Download or read book Whore Stories written by Tyler Stoddard Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-18 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Working History of Working Girls (and Guys) Have you ever wondered how Heidi Fleiss came to be the face of upscale prostitution or if Casanova really was the world's greatest lover? How about why Latin playboy Rubi Rubirosa got the nickname "The Ding Dong Daddy"? Anything but judgmental, Whore Stories sheds light on one of our more stigmatized icons: The Prostitute. Featuring the true stories of famous streetwalkers, call girls, rent boys, and go-go dancers, this book offers a revealing look at the men and women who have blazed the bawdy trail of prostitution since the dawn of time. While you may think that you know everything about this occupation, Whore Stories includes plenty of details and even celebrities, such as Maya Angelou and Bob Dylan, that will leave you in awe. From private schools and child preachers to mime fantasies and unfortunate amputations, this book uncovers the truth behind the world's oldest profession.
Download or read book Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World written by Christopher A. Faraone and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2008-03-14 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World explores the implications of sex-for-pay across a broad span of time, from ancient Mesopotamia to the early Christian period. In ancient times, although they were socially marginal, prostitutes connected with almost every aspect of daily life. They sat in brothels and walked the streets; they paid taxes and set up dedications in religious sanctuaries; they appeared as characters—sometimes admirable, sometimes despicable—on the comic stage and in the law courts; they lived lavishly, consorting with famous poets and politicians; and they participated in otherwise all-male banquets and drinking parties, where they aroused jealousy among their anxious lovers. The chapters in this volume examine a wide variety of genres and sources, from legal and religious tracts to the genres of lyric poetry, love elegy, and comic drama to the graffiti scrawled on the walls of ancient Pompeii. These essays reflect the variety and vitality of the debates engendered by the last three decades of research by confronting the ambiguous terms for prostitution in ancient languages, the difficulty of distinguishing the prostitute from the woman who is merely promiscuous or adulterous, the question of whether sacred or temple prostitution actually existed in the ancient Near East and Greece, and the political and social implications of literary representations of prostitutes and courtesans.
Download or read book Upstairs Girls written by Michael Rutter and published by Farcountry Press. This book was released on 2012-11-26 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prostitutes make up one of the most engaging chapters in the story of the American West. Upstairs Girls opens a window on the lives of these women for hire. Historian Michael Rutter offers a thorough and fascinating history of prostitution in the West, with details on why women turned to this profession and what their lives were like. Chapters on the notorious madams, the tragic Chinese sex trade, occupational hazards, rowdy dancehall girls, and the efforts of the ''Moral Purity Movement'' supplement the heart-breaking and sometimes humorous profiles on some of the most famous madams and prostitutes in history.
Download or read book The Fires of Lust written by Katherine Harvey and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2022-11-28 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating exploration of the surprisingly familiar sex lives of ordinary medieval people. The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much—or too little—sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong. Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life and reveals details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.
Download or read book Minneapolis Madams written by Penny A. Petersen and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sex, money, and politics—no, it’s not a thriller novel. Minneapolis Madams is the surprising and riveting account of the Minneapolis red-light district and the powerful madams who ran it. Penny Petersen brings to life this nearly forgotten chapter of Minneapolis history, tracing the story of how these “houses of ill fame” rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century and then were finally shut down in the early twentieth century. In their heyday Minneapolis brothels were not only open for business but constituted a substantial economic and political force in the city. Women of independent means, madams built custom bordellos to suit their tastes and exerted influence over leading figures and politicians. Petersen digs deep into city archives, period newspapers, and other primary sources to illuminate the Minneapolis sex trade and its opponents, bringing into focus the ideologies and economic concerns that shaped the lives of prostitutes, the men who used their services, and the social-purity reformers who sought to eradicate their trade altogether. Usually written off as deviants, madams were actually crucial components of a larger system of social control and regulation. These entrepreneurial women bought real estate, hired well-known architects and interior decorators to design their bordellos, and played an important part in the politics of the developing city. Petersen argues that we cannot understand Minneapolis unless we can grasp the scope and significance of its sex trade. She also provides intriguing glimpses into racial interactions within the vice economy, investigating an African American madam who possibly married into one of the city’s most prestigious families. Fascinating and rigorously researched, Minneapolis Madams is a true detective story and a key resource for anyone interested in the history of women, sexuality, and urban life in Minneapolis.
Download or read book The Burgundians written by Bart Van Loo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterful history of the great dynasty of the Netherlands' Middle Ages. 'A sumptuous feast of a book' The Times, Books of the Year 'Thrillingly colourful and entertaining' Sunday Times 'A thrilling narrative of the brutal dazzlingly rich wildly ambitious duchy' Simon Sebag Montefiore 5 stars! Daily Telegraph 'A masterpiece' De Morgen 'A history book that reads like a thriller' Le Soir At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a compulsively readable narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury and madness. It is about the decline of knightly ideals and the awakening of individualism and of cities, the struggle for dominance in the heart of northern Europe, bloody military campaigns and fatally bad marriages. It is also a remarkable cultural history, of great art and architecture and music emerging despite the violence and the chaos of the tension between rival dynasties.
Download or read book Brides of the Multitude written by Jeremy Agnew and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brides of the Multitude is a fascinating, historically accurate account of why prostitution ran rampant in the Old West during the prudish Victorian period of the United States. It explains who these women were, their reasons for becoming prostitutes, the types of establishments of prostitution, the conditions under which the women worked, and problems associated with sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Weaving facts with colorful anecdotes, the author presents an in-depth look at the "ladies" who conducted business in the infamous red light districts located throughout the frontier.
Download or read book The Pleasure s All Mine written by Julie Peakman and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handcuffs, paddles, whips—the words alone are enough to make a person blush. Even by our society’s standards, the practice of things like BDSM is still very hush-hush, considered deviant sexual behavior that must be kept hidden. But the narrow view of what is thought of as “normal” sex—a vanilla act performed by one man and one woman—is more and more contested these days. And as Julie Peakman reveals, normal never really existed; for everyone, different kinds of sex have always offered myriad pleasures, and almost all sexual behaviors have traveled between acceptance and proscription. The Pleasure’s All Mine examines two millennia of letters, diaries, court records, erotic books, medical texts, and more to explore the gamut of “deviant” sexual activity. Delving into the specialized cultures of pain, necrophilia, and bestiality and the social world of plushies, furries, and life-size sex dolls, Peakman considers the changing attitudes toward these, as well as masturbation, “golden showers,” sadomasochism, homosexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals. She follows the history of each behavior through its original reception to its interpretation by sexologists and how it is viewed today, showing how previously acceptable behaviors now provoke social outrage, or vice versa. In addition, she questions why people have been and remain intolerant of other people’s sexual preferences. The first comprehensive history of sexual perversion and packed with both color and black and white images, The Pleasure’s All Mine is a fascinating and sometimes shocking look at the evolution of our views on sex.
Download or read book The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women written by Rosalie Gilbert and published by Mango Media Inc.. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “wickedly entertaining, informative and thought-provoking” look at romance, courtship, and other intimacies behind closed Medieval doors (Dr. Markus Kerr, PhD, MDR). Were medieval women slaves to their husband’s desires, jealously secured in a chastity belt in his absence? Was sex a duty or could it be a pleasure? Did a woman have a say about her own female sexuality, body, and who did or didn’t get up close and personal with it? No. And yes. It’s complicated. The intimate lives of medieval women were as complex as for modern women. They loved and lost, hoped and schemed, were lifted up and cast down. They were hopeful and lovelorn. Some had it forced upon them, others made aphrodisiacs and dressed for success. Some were chaste and some were lusty. Having sex was complicated. Not having sex, was even more so. Inside The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women, a fascinating book about life during medieval times, you will discover tantalizing true stories about medieval women and a myriad of historical facts. Learn about: The true experiences of women from all classes, including women who made history The dos and don’ts in the bedroom Sexy foods and how to have them All you need to know for your wedding night, and well as insider medical advice How to get pregnant (and how not to), and more “Quite compelling and hilariously funny. I have been chuckling out loud and my husband says he thinks he ought to read it if it’s such a tonic. God forbid!” —Susanna Newstead, author of the Savernake Novels
Download or read book Boudoirs to Brothels written by Michael Rutter and published by Farcountry Press. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From boudoirs to brothels, historian Michael Rutter takes you into the intimate world of the Wild West's women of the night. Eighteen richly researched biographies reveal the tricks and torments of the trade, with fascinating sidebars on venereal diseases (and dire "cures"), children of prostitutes, a floating brothel, and hog ranches.
Download or read book Fanny and Stella written by Neil McKenna and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2013-01-25 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Uproarious.' The Times 'Terrifically entertaining.' Evening Standard 'Irresistible.' Daily Mail 'Gripping.' Sunday Telegraph 'A scintillating gem: a cracking page-turner, historically illuminating, culturally fascinating, and a book which effortlessly passes comment on today.' Herald London, April 1870: Fanny and Stella were no ordinary Victorian women. They were young men who liked to dress as women: Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton. Stella was the most beautiful female impersonator of her day, Fanny her inseparable companion. But the Metropolitan Police were plotting their downfall. Fanny and Stella were arrested and subjected to a sensational trial where every lascivious detail of their lives was lapped up by the public. With a cast of peers and politicians, detectives and drag queens, Fanny and Stella is a dazzling and enthralling story of cross examinations, cross-dressing and the the birth of camp.
Download or read book Sour Grapes written by Dan Rhodes and published by Eye Books (US&CA). This book was released on 2021-10-04 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Dan Rhodes is a true original' – Hilary Mantel When the sleepy English village of Green Bottom hosts its first literary festival, the good, the bad and the ugly of the book world descend upon its leafy lanes. But the villagers are not prepared for the peculiar habits, petty rivalries and unspeakable desires of the authors. And they are certainly not equipped to deal with Wilberforce Selfram, the ghoul-faced, ageing enfant terrible who wreaks havoc wherever he goes. Sour Grapes is a hilarious satire on the literary world which takes no prisoners as it skewers authors, agents, publishers and reviewers alike.
Download or read book Been There Done That written by Rachel Feltman and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rollicking, myth-busting history of sex that sets the record straight on subjects ranging from contraception and STIs to courtship and reproduction, pushing back against plenty of present-day taboos and urban legends along the way. With curiosity and irreverent insight, science writer Rachel Feltman breaks down the long, weird, illustrious history of sex. She guides readers through the kaleidoscopic archives of centuries-old porn and erotica, as well as the bizarre history of treatments for erectile dysfunction, including radium suppositories and goat testicle transplants. Feltman provides the history of huge scientific questions--e.g., How are babies made?--and considers the ancient from a modern perspective: What was it like to have herpes several millennia ago? Even from unlikely sources like Hildegard von Bingen's treatise on the female orgasm, there's a lot we can learn about our modern-day sexual proclivities and practices from the historical record. And these figures from the past, from gay cowboys to polyamorous Vikings, prove that when it comes to how we have sex and who we do it with, there's no such thing as normal.
Download or read book Sex in History written by Reay Tannahill and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SEX IN HISTORY chronicles the pleasures- and perils- of the flesh from the time of mankind's distant ancestors to the modern day; from a sexual act which was bried, crude and purposeful, to the myriad varieties of contemporary sexual mores. Reay Tannahill's scholarly, yet accessible study ranges from the earliest form of contraception (one Egyptian concoction included crocodile dung) to some latter- day misconceptions about it- like the men who joined their lovers in taking the pill 'just to be on the safe side.' It surveys all manner of sexual practice, preference and position (the acrobatic 'wheelbarrow' position, the strenuous 'hovering butterflies' position...) and draws on souces as diverse as THE ADMIRABLE DISCOURSES OF THE PLAIN GIRL, the EXHIBTION OF FEMALE FLAGELLANTS, IMPORTANT MATTERS OF THE JADE CHAMBER and THE ROMANCE OF CHASTISEMENT. Whether writing on androgyny, courtly love, flagellation or zoophilia, Turkish eunuch's Greek dildoes, Taoist sex manuals or Japanses geisha girls, Reay Tannahill is consistently enlightening and entertaining.
Download or read book Ungovernable written by Therese Oneill and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the "hysterically funny and unsettlingly fascinating"* New York Times bestseller Unmentionable, a hilarious illustrated guide to the secrets of Victorian child-rearing [*Jenny Lawson] Feminist historian Therese Oneill is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting . . . a Victorian baby! In Ungovernable, Oneill conducts an unforgettable tour through the backwards, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre parenting fashions of the Victorians, advising us on: - How to be sure you're not too ugly, sickly, or stupid to breed - What positions and room decor will help you conceive a son - How much beer, wine, cyanide and heroin to consume while pregnant - How to select the best peasant teat for your child - Which foods won't turn your children into sexual deviants - And so much more Endlessly surprising, wickedly funny, and filled with juicy historical tidbits and images, Ungovernable provides much-needed perspective on -- and comic relief from -- the age-old struggle to bring up baby.
