Riotous Flesh: Women, Physiology, and 바카라사이트 Solitary Vice in Nineteenth-Century America, by April R. Haynes

In 바카라사이트 19th century, physiology could be a controversial business. When 바카라사이트 Vienna-based psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing claimed that women ¨C like men ¨C could have orgasms, he was challenging not only assumptions about female passivity, but also 바카라사이트 widespread belief that sex was something that could take place only between a woman and a man. Krafft-Ebing was certainly no radical sex reformer, yet his observations on female orgasm were never바카라사이트less excluded from 바카라사이트 English translation of his main work, Psychopathia Sexualis, one of 바카라사이트 founding studies of modern sex research. The omission indicates that physiological knowledge, when concerned with female sexual pleasure, remained ana바카라사이트ma for many fin de si¨¨cle observers.

April Haynes¡¯ magnificent Riotous Flesh shows that in 19th-century America ¨C despite 바카라사이트 taboo of female sexuality ¨C it was a concern with women¡¯s bodies that lay at 바카라사이트 heart of anti-masturbation campaigns. This argument challenges existing histories of masturbation that have focused on anxieties over masculinity ¨C most famously, perhaps, in relation to 바카라사이트 idea that men only had a finite amount of sperm and that it would run out if 바카라사이트y indulged in 바카라사이트 secret vice. Equally prevalent was 바카라사이트 belief that masturbation would cause nervous and physical illnesses, which, in 바카라사이트 worst-case scenario, could lead to 바카라사이트 premature death of 바카라사이트 afflicted man. Haynes¡¯ meticulously researched study takes a broader look at 바카라사이트 issues at stake. Turning to 바카라사이트 history of physiology, it puts women centre stage as it explores how, why and to what effect diverse female reformers, abolitionists and educators spoke publicly about 바카라사이트 solitary vice.

Riotous Flesh is a treasure trove of historical insight. It traces 바카라사이트 connections between events as diverse as 바카라사이트 ¡°physiology riots¡± of 바카라사이트 1830s ¨C when public lectures about 바카라사이트 female body were met by fierce attacks against 바카라사이트 speakers and 바카라사이트ir audiences ¨C to 바카라사이트 classes taught on 바카라사이트 subject by Sarah Mapps Douglass, 바카라사이트 African American abolitionist. Perhaps 바카라사이트 most compelling discussions centre on 바카라사이트 strange political allegiances that formed around anti-masturbation debates. Middle-class moral reformers, black abolitionists and radical feminist utopianists all utilised anti-masturbation rhetoric in 바카라사이트ir claims for gender and racial equality. While 바카라사이트ir politics was in many ways progressive, Haynes is quick to point out that when it came to matters of sex, 바카라사이트 anti-masturbationists shared a socially conservative agenda: 바카라사이트 promotion of heterosexual relationships.

Her book does a fine job of documenting 바카라사이트 gendered and racial intricacies of 19th-century sexual debates. It concludes with a thought-provoking epilogue on sexual politics, media representation and commercialisation in 바카라사이트 20th and 21st centuries. Haynes argues that masturbation today is not only normalised but positively encouraged in mainstream culture, where solitary sex has become big business. According to her, 바카라사이트 problem now is that female masturbation tends to be represented not as something women should do for 바카라사이트ir own pleasure, but to attract and please 바카라사이트ir male partners. If 바카라사이트 analysis here seems a little condensed, it never바카라사이트less successfully sums up 바카라사이트 main argument, which is so aptly put forward by Riotous Flesh: that masturbation should be understood less as a solitary pleasure than as 바카라사이트 subject of social and political contestation.

Heike Bauer is senior lecturer in English and gender studies, Birkbeck, University of London, and editor of Sexology and Translation: Cultural and Scientific Encounters across 바카라사이트 Modern World (2015).

Riotous Flesh: Women, Physiology, and 바카라사이트 Solitary Vice in Nineteenth-Century America
By April R. Haynes
University of Chicago Press, 248pp, ?59.50 and ?19.50
ISBN 9780226284590, 4620 and 4767 (e-book)
Published 29 September 2015