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Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England Revised Edition
Contributor(s): Karras, Ruth Mazo (Author)
ISBN: 0195124987     ISBN-13: 9780195124989
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $82.17  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: April 1998
Qty:
Annotation: "Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as street-walkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe - Medieval
- Psychology | Human Sexuality (see Also Social Science - Human Sexuality)
- Social Science | Women's Studies
Dewey: 306.74
Lexile Measure: 1600
Physical Information: 0.54" H x 6.46" W x 9" (0.75 lbs) 232 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453)
- Cultural Region - British Isles
- Sex & Gender - Feminine
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This
important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.