Licentious Worlds is a history of sexual attitudes and behaviour through 500 years of empire-building around the world. In a graphic and sometimes unsettling account, Julie Peakman examines colonization and the imperial experience from women's points of view, showing how they were involved in the building of empires, but also how they were almost invariably exploited. Women acted as negotiators, brothel keepers, traders and peace keepers, but were also forced into marriages and raped. The book describes women in Turkish harems, Mughal zenanas and Japanese geisha houses, as well as in royal palaces, private households and on board ships. Their stories are drawn from many sources - from captains' logs, missionary reports and cannibals' memoirs to travellers' letters, traders' accounts and reports on prostitutes. From debauched clerics and hog-buggering Pilgrims to sexually-confused cannibals and sodomising samurai, Licentious Worlds takes history where it has not been before.

About the Author
Julie Peakman is a historian, author and broadcaster renowned for her work on the history of sexuality. She is author of many books including The Pleasure's All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex (Reaktion, 2013), Peg Plunkett: Memoirs of a Whore (2015) and Amatory Pleasures: Explorations in 18th Century Sexual Cultures (2016). She lives in London.


Book Information
ISBN 9781789141405
Author Julie Peakman
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Reaktion Books
Publisher Reaktion Books