Licentious Worlds: Sex and Exploitation in Global Empires

Description

Licentious Worlds is a history of sexual attitudes and behavior through five hundred years of empire-building around the world. In a graphic and sometimes unsettling account, Julie Peakman examines colonization and the imperial experience of women (as well as marginalized men), showing how women were not only involved in the building of empires, but how they were also almost invariably exploited. Women acted as negotiators, brothel keepers, traders, and peace keepers—but they 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 and private households and onboard ships. Their stories are drawn from many sources—from captains’ logs, missionary reports, and cannibals’ memoirs to travelers’ letters, traders’ accounts, and reports on prostitutes. From debauched clerics and hog-buggering Pilgrims to sexually-confused cannibals and sodomizing samurai, Licentious Worlds takes history into its darkest corners. Cover Title Imprint Page Contents Introduction 1. Colonizing America: The First New World The ‘Discovery’ of America The British Colonies The Melting Pot 2. Discovering Oceania: ‘The New Cythera’ Voyages of Captain Cook Missionaries and Traders Maretu’s Story Arrival of Traders: ‘Life in Feejee’ Bound for Botany Bay 3. Into Africa: ‘The Dark Continent’ ‘Devils Incarnate’ African Slave Trade Saving Souls and Exploring Bodies Sex and Politics Pornography in Colonized North Africa 4. Post-colonial America: Finding Freedonia Native Frontiers Enslaved Africans Caribbean Colonies Sex for Hire America’s Empire 5. Glory of India: The Mughal Empire to the British Raj Wives, Sex and Marriage: Travellers’ Impressions The Nautch Girls Nabobs, Bibis and Memsahibs: the British Raj Wars and Sieges Sexual Differences 6. The Ottoman Empire: ‘The Sublime State’ The Sultan’s Harem European Travellers Heart Stealers and Beloveds Richard Burton and Exoticism of the East 7. China: ‘Tiger of the East’ Prostitution and Concubines in the Ming Dynasty Sex and Marriage Reading Secrets Manchu Repression Golden Lilies Selling Sex in the Nineteenth Century 8. Japan: ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ Japanese Marriage Travellers’ Tales The Pleasure Grounds Nanshoku Geisha, Courtesans and Prostitutes The Meiji Period Conclusion: Final Thoughts on Sex, Religion and Empire Sex and Religion Relationships Between Men and Women Cultural Collisions Marginal Behaviour Epilogue: Further Theories of Colonization References Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index