Whores in History: Prostitution in Western Society"'If prostitution is the world's oldest profession, then men writing about it is certainly the second oldest.' It was to retrieve an important part of women's history from the hands of male writers - who have defined prostitution from their own point of view as the client sex - that Nickie Roberts undertook this invigorating blend of social history and sexual politics." "In her far-reaching narrative account, the author proclaims herself unreservedly on the side of the unrepentant whore, the most maligned woman in history. From the high-ranking temple whores of Egypt and the courtesans of Ancient Greece and Rome, she tells the story of the prostitute with liberal quotations from contemporary sources and anecdotes of bawdy-house and brothel life. She shows how, in the Middle Ages, the Church exploited the sex industry to build churches out of the proceeds; she describes the high-class cortegiane of Renaissance Italy, the French maisons de tolerance and the lives of the grandes horizontales; and she analyses the Victorian denial of female sexuality (which enabled the bourgeois male to concentrate exclusively on his own) and the double standards of conventional attitudes." "In the 20th-century section, she gives whores their voice and describes whores' movements such as the English Collective of Prostitutes and the American COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics)." "She criticizes legislative attempts at control, challenges orthodox views on prostitutes, dissects feminist approaches to the subject ('all sex work is degrading to women') and argues strongly in favour of the decriminalization of prostitution and the sexual and financial autonomy of the whore. The result is a vivid, stimulating and well-researched work of history whose perspective on the subject is both original and provocative, and whose argument will engage both male 'experts' and feminist 'sisters' alike."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
WHORES IN HISTORY: Prostituion in Western Society
User Review - Kirkus`` 'Tis Pity She's a Whore,'' wrote playwright John Ford in 1633, summing up society's general attitude toward prostitutes. But Roberts, a former London ``sex worker'' (i.e., stripper), begs to ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ccjolliffe - LibraryThingRoberts, who comes from the dance tangent of the sex trade, may wax militant here & there. But there's no denying her central contention: the world's oldest profession grew out of the world's oldest oppression. Read full review
Contents
Wives Slaves and Whores | 12 |
the Imperial Sex Trade | 33 |
the Martyrdom of Sexuality | 55 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
according ancient arrested authorities beautiful became become began brothels called century Christian Church clients closed common continued court courtesan culture describes early earn establishment Europe exist fact female feminists forced France French girls give goddess hand independent Italy keep kind King known ladies later least less lives London look majority male married means middle middle-class mistress moral movement never night once organized particularly period pimps pleasure police poor prostitution Quoted regulation repression respectable Roman rooms rule seen sex industry sex trade sexual slaves social society streets throughout took town tradition turn usual Victorian whores woman women workers working-class writer young
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Whores in History: Prostitution in Western Society |
| Author | Nickie Roberts |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Harper Collins, 1992 |
| ISBN | 0246132345, 9780246132345 |
| Length | 380 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |