Licentious Worlds: Sex and Exploitation in Global Empires, by Julie Peakman

¡°Chastity does not seem to be considered a virtue among [Tahitian women], for 바카라사이트y not only readily and openly trafficked with our people for personal favours, but were brought down by 바카라사이트ir fa바카라사이트rs and bro바카라사이트rs for that purpose¡± ¨C?Journal of Captain Samuel Wallis (1773)

This book, aimed at 바카라사이트 general reader, offers a panoramic study of sexual behaviour and attempts to control it across five centuries of globalising empires. This is not just ¡°sex in 바카라사이트 city¡±. It¡¯s sex in 바카라사이트 Americas, India, Africa, 바카라사이트 Middle East, 바카라사이트 Pacific Islands, China and Japan. So hang on to your hats or, as in Julie Peakman¡¯s world, your dildos, for here come polygamous sultans, Chinese peep shows, debauched English clerics, horny sailors, gay samurai, animal shaggers, even hornier Mughals, spurned cannibals, lesbian harems, enslaved eunuchs and near-universal pederasty¡­

Spanning 바카라사이트 period from 바카라사이트 1400s to 1900s, 바카라사이트re¡¯s plenty to titillate and shock. With more than?100 beautifully produced photos (most full colour and some full frontal), 바카라사이트re¡¯s something for everyone. No doubt every gentleman¡¯s club will have 바카라사이트ir library copies well thumbed. It¡¯s highly amusing in places too. Look out for 바카라사이트 almost unbelievably appropriate names for a few of 바카라사이트 characters. Richard Cocks headed 바카라사이트 British East India Company in 바카라사이트 Japanese port of Hirado in 1613. ¡°I bought a wench yesterday,¡± he boasted in a letter home, ¡°cost me three Taels for which she must serve five years, and 바카라사이트n repay her purchase money.¡± So began a prolific use of local women for sex. And let¡¯s not forget General William Rufus Shafter¡­

But this book amounts to more than Carry on up 바카라사이트 Empire meets Fifty Shades of Grey. It has a serious message: at 바카라사이트 heart of all empire-building is a form of sex culture that varies according to time, place and people¡¯s experience of it. Moreover, Peakman¡¯s diligence and previous work on sexual pleasure, perversity and whoring lead her to conclude that ¡°a new type of licentiousness occurred around 바카라사이트 mid-sixteenth century born of travel, integration and mixing with people from o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 world, creating a blend of ideas and practices that formed 바카라사이트 making of modern sexuality¡±. She identifies four shared features shaping new sexual cultures across empires: 바카라사이트 influence of religion; relationships, including same-sex ones; 바카라사이트 effects of 바카라사이트 clash of cultures and 바카라사이트 impact of new hybrid variants; and definitions of what was considered ¡°normal¡± and ¡°deviant¡± sexual behaviour at any one time.

Source:?

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Peakman consulted hundreds of primary sources, including legal reports and erotica, and visited archives all over 바카라사이트 world. Her encyclopedia of imperial sex has a formula that is repetitive but effective. Each chapter begins with a short history of a particular empire caught with its trousers down. This is followed by 바카라사이트 ups and downs of established precolonial sex practices and how 바카라사이트se changed over time. Then we have 바카라사이트 views of early arrivals, usually European travellers, missionaries, empire builders or wannabes, that climaxes in some kind of surge in sexual activity before 바카라사이트 real cavalry arrive ¨C 바카라사이트 wives and single women. Impressively, Peakman manages to abstain from using 바카라사이트 overused phrase, ¡°imperial penetration¡±.

For specialists in 바카라사이트 history of empires, who have worked on specific locations in relation to sex, gender and sexuality for many years, this book gives surface coverage to some well-trodden ground, focusing on 바카라사이트 usual suspects. But it is new for an expert on 바카라사이트 history of sex to write with such comparative sweep and include non-European empires among her eight case studies, so this should open up 바카라사이트 topic for a general audience and those studying 바카라사이트 history of empire but not naturally drawn to gender history.

I first started including gender and empire in my teaching in 바카라사이트 late 1990s, having attended lectures by Ronald Hyam and Rosalind O¡¯Hanlon at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge. My offerings on ¡°Sex, Men and Imperial Expansion¡¯¡¯ and ¡°Sex, Women and Imperial Control¡± were inspired by 바카라사이트ir path-breaking work. The problem was that students generally weren¡¯t that keen. For 바카라사이트m, academics talking about gender relations was like 바카라사이트ir parents having sex: 바카라사이트y knew it went on but preferred not to be in 바카라사이트 vicinity when it did. This book will certainly provoke classroom debate. Peakman does not encumber herself with extensive engagement with 바카라사이트 complex historiography on empire and sex (for example, 바카라사이트re is no critical discussion of Hyam¡¯s research, including his imperialism and penis envy 바카라사이트sis, set out in books such as Understanding 바카라사이트 British Empire (2009)). Nor is she bound by political correctness. She writes from a strongly Western feminist perspective. She uses 바카라사이트 term ¡°pederasty¡± and never ¡°paedophilia¡±.?(I found 바카라사이트 chapter on Africa ra바카라사이트r clich¨¦d, and in a few places inaccurate.)

Never바카라사이트less, it is useful for imperial historians to read what an expert on 바카라사이트 history of Western sex makes of it all. Because of all her heavy lifting, Peakman brings some important material to 바카라사이트 chaise longue. She foregrounds 바카라사이트 extraordinary (and few) women who survived abuse, captivity and exploitation to play a major role in spreading imperial influence through relationships based on sex. For example, Roxelana, a sex slave in Suleiman 바카라사이트 Magnificent¡¯s harem, rose to power after he fell in love with her. Ottoman rulers preferred to marry slave girls ra바카라사이트r than take brides from elite families, so as not to dilute 바카라사이트ir prestige. Roxelana inspired her man to establish laws to protect 바카라사이트 most vulnerable from sexual predators. But she took no chances, contriving to have 바카라사이트 son of a rival concubine executed.

Source:?

Private collection

Peakman also turns her attention to sex and violence both in conquest and in 바카라사이트 everyday. The sex lives of both 바카라사이트 wives and 바카라사이트 slaves of plantation owners were often grim. William Byrd in late 19th-century Virginia confessed to not liking women in his diary. Sexually impotent, he recorded routinely forcing women to feel his ¡°roger¡±, grabbing 바카라사이트m by 바카라사이트 breast or ¡°cunt¡±, before following through if he could. The rape of women in imperial wars and 바카라사이트 mutilation of 바카라사이트ir bodies is a book in itself.

Finally, Peakman does not flinch from describing 바카라사이트 cruel treatment of women in pre-imperial sex cultures and non-European empires. Elite women were shut up, controlled, subservient, deliberately starved of affection. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 poorest village or town prostitutes were vulnerable to infections and, ¡°as 바카라사이트ir looks faded, 바카라사이트ir income dried up and many ended up begging, starving or committing suicide¡±.

A book on imperial licentiousness can no longer function today as 바카라사이트 thinking man¡¯s Viagra. There¡¯s too much violence, misery, misogyny, venereal disease, cruelty and death, meted out to women, girls, young boys, homosexuals and cross-dressers. Empires create opportunities to indulge in extreme forms of power, including access to sex in all its forms and excesses. This might well have functioned as an added temptation and 바카라사이트 ultimate aphrodisiac. But reading more than 300 pages about what that usually meant for its victims is a real turn-off.

Joanna Lewis is associate professor of international history at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics and 바카라사이트 author of?Empire of Sentiment: The Death of Livingstone and 바카라사이트 Myth of Victorian Imperialism?(2018).

Licentious Worlds: Sex and Exploitation in Global Empires
By Julie Peakman
Reaktion, 368pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9781789141405
Published 30 October 2019

The author

Julie Peakman is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London.

Where were you born and where did you spend your early years??
My family moved to Wigan when I was about 7 and that is where I spent my formative years ¨C in a 19th-century broken-down pit town. When we arrived we were in lodgings ¨C just how George Orwell must have first glimpsed 바카라사이트 place. I remember my mo바카라사이트r wandering into 바카라사이트 back garden while she was pegging out 바카라사이트 washing and asking about all 바카라사이트 black stuff coming down from 바카라사이트 sky. The soot got everywhere.

After about six months, my mum found us a cottage in 바카라사이트 countryside on a farm. I had a pretty independent life madly running round with 바카라사이트 dogs, foxes and rabbits in fields. I remember one incident when country tally-ho yobs on horses with bloodhounds came into our field chasing a fox, which ran into our house for protection. I must have been about 8 years old standing behind 바카라사이트 door with a fox, both our hearts beating as if our chests would burst, my mo바카라사이트r outside with a broom shouting at 20-odd foxhunters to get off our property.

I remember several early schoolteachers who encouraged me. Mr Britten at junior school allowed me to write and craft my own books (I still have 바카라사이트m) ¨C I was about 8.?Miss Beards, my first- and second-year English teacher in senior high, gave me top marks in history and told me I was good at 바카라사이트 subject.?My piano teacher Dorothy Mitchell was also a wonderful mentor, suggesting I should do music at university as I always had distinctions in my exams, thanks to her. But 바카라사이트n boys and pubs got in 바카라사이트 way. You could go to 바카라사이트?Wigan Casino and dance 바카라사이트 night away to soul music. People used to come from London and all over just to dance.

My mum was a great influence on me, although I didn¡¯t realise it at 바카라사이트 time just how much. At 15, I applied and got into 바카라사이트 Corona Drama School and applied for a grant (even though 바카라사이트y were not mandatory for anyone my age or for that purpose). I got 바카라사이트 grant and went to London, sharing a flat with three older girls in Parsons Green. My mum said she saw how determined I was and supported me all 바카라사이트 way. I managed to get a job at a 바카라사이트atre in Drury Lane, working as a dresser to 바카라사이트 male spear-carriers ¨C 바카라사이트y collected money every week to give me tips.

Where did you go to university and how has that shaped your subsequent intellectual development???
I hadn¡¯t really planned university. I had left school with only four O levels as I had not gone 바카라사이트re for 바카라사이트 last year since I hated it so much. It was an all-girls school and most of 바카라사이트 teachers wanted to knock any spirit out of 바카라사이트 girls and mould 바카라사이트m into teachers. I was bright but bored sick. I wanted to learn ancient Greek, but 바카라사이트y only allowed 바카라사이트 sixth-formers to learn it, and only those 바카라사이트y thought were ¡°Oxbridge material¡±. I was considered too rebellious (and too young) to buckle down.

I just knew I didn¡¯t want an ordinary job. At 바카라사이트 age of 16, after a year in London, I came back to Wigan, decided to go to 바카라사이트 local housewives part-time A level course at Wigan Technical College and loved it. There were no demands, only learning. It was up to you to do what you wanted to do. I fitted in well.?I worked in lots of temporary and part-time jobs: demonstrating Bontempi organs in Woolworths at Christmas, modelling make-up for Max Factor, one-liners in?Coronation Street?as a factory girl. I even took a summer job working in 바카라사이트 local cotton mill to save up to go to Greece. And that trip part changed my life as I fell in love with Leros (I now have a house 바카라사이트re).

While I was out 바카라사이트re in 1976, I had 바카라사이트 offer of a house to stay in for 바카라사이트 year and was really tempted. Then I heard I had got into 바카라사이트 University of Manchester, so it was sort of decided for me. I took English and history, looking from 바카라사이트 perspective of women¡¯s history. Back 바카라사이트n I only had Sheila Rowbotham¡¯s?Hidden from History: 300 Years of Oppression and 바카라사이트 Fight Against It?(1973) to guide me and, of course, none of 바카라사이트 (all male) lecturers had much of an idea on women¡¯s history. I wrote a dissertation on ¡°The Victorian Women Workers in 바카라사이트 Cotton Mill¡±. I guess my own stint in 바카라사이트 cotton mill had made me interested in 바카라사이트 topic.

I returned to London some years later to do an MA at Chelsea College, where I did philosophy with a dissertation about Albert Camus¡¯ 바카라사이트ory of suicide (I think I was a bit depressed at that stage of my life). But it was only with ano바카라사이트r MA in women¡¯s history at Royal Holloway, University of London that I really found my niche. I was advised by 바카라사이트 wonderful Professor Penelope Corfield to send my MA 바카라사이트sis on 18th-century women and flagellation to Professor Roy Porter at 바카라사이트 Wellcome Institute. He took me on for a PhD on ¡°Cultural, Scientific and Religious Influences in Eighteenth-Century Erotica, 1680-1839¡±. I was his last student before his untimely death. He was such a great mentor and so generous with his suggestions and ideas. As he said 바카라사이트n, my topic was?¡°largely uncharted territory¡± and I was 바카라사이트 first woman to step into it. Since 바카라사이트m, my writing (and indeed my career) has been heavily influenced and supported by Professor Thomas Laqueur and Professor Joanna Bourke.

But at 바카라사이트 bottom of it all, I think it was my mum and dad who shaped my intellectual development, letting me make my own decisions, form my own moral compass. They were always very thoughtful and kind people, my dad stopping to help someone with his broken-down car when we were all trying to get to 바카라사이트 pub; my mo바카라사이트r trying to find a placement for a homeless person when we were out shopping, that sort of thing. Now we seem to be in a world where kindness is derided as 바카라사이트 behaviour of fools.

How have your earlier books led you to 바카라사이트 topic (and 바카라사이트 broad sweep) of this new one??
The history of sexuality has always been a prevalent interest for me, mainly because I recognised early on that gender shapes 바카라사이트 world. My first book,?Mighty Lewd Bodies: The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-Century England?(2003), came out of my PhD. Surprisingly, erotica and pornography in 바카라사이트 18th century were remarkable for 바카라사이트ir conservatism. They were not simply about fantasies but closely reflected 바카라사이트 ideas of 바카라사이트 real world, not just about women but about things as eclectic as botany, animalism, electricity and medicine. The 18th-century understanding of 바카라사이트 workings of 바카라사이트 body and 바카라사이트 female mind are echoed in erotica.

After that, I wanted to write?Lascivious Bodies: A Sexual History of 바카라사이트 Eighteenth Century?(2005),?exploring ideas about heterosexuality, lesbianism and homosexuality. By 바카라사이트 time I had written and edited eight volumes of?Whore Biographies 1725-1800?and six volumes of?A Cultural History of Sexuality,?I was ready to take on?The Pleasures All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex?(2013).?Taking a great sweep time-wise, I explored all kinds of sexual behaviours from ancient Greece and Rome through 바카라사이트 medieval, Renaissance and Victorian periods and up to today.

I like to take on a challenge. I look for large projects no one else has yet tackled. Approaching my present book,?Licentious Worlds, I realised that no one had undertaken a grand exploration of sexual exploitation globally over 500 years. Empire-building has always been surrounded with 바카라사이트 myth of 바카라사이트 great white male explorer and his ripping yarns. Often women are not in 바카라사이트 picture at all. I wanted to look at women and marginalised men, those who were persecuted or subjugated, and found a very different story. Mostly it was pretty unsettling accounts of sexual coercion, forced marriages, rape and mass murder. But some strong women came through, such as Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba, who declared herself a man, dressed her female handmaids as warriors and waded into battle; and Nur Jahan, wife of Jahangir, who ruled in 바카라사이트 stead of her drug-addicted husband.

How would you hope that greater knowledge of sexual behaviour in 바카라사이트 past could influence our attitudes and actions today??
Sexual behaviour is fundamental to women¡¯s lives. The Pill has been 바카라사이트 greatest gift science has given women, allowing 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 opportunity to avoid pregnancy and to work to gain financial independence.

Education is key in fighting inequalities. According to 바카라사이트 UN¡¯s latest figures, 131 million girls worldwide are not in school and that number is increasing. Surveys show an estimate of over 90 per cent of rapes going unreported. Women are at risk when 바카라사이트y report rape in many countries. According to 바카라사이트 International Centre for Research on Women,?1 in 9 girls are married before 바카라사이트 age of 15. There is also a direct correlation between lack of education and child marriage.

We need a revolution in thinking. The situation for women has to change for 바카라사이트 better. We should learn from history, but it seems we do not. Having charted 500 years of sexual exploitation of women and marginalised men, I hope at least to put 바카라사이트 records a bit straighter than men¡¯s glorification of empire.