Common Bodies: Women, Touch and Power in 17th-Century England [Hardcover]

Laura Gowing (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300100965 | ISBN-13: 978-0300100969 | Publication Date: November 1, 2003

This title explores how ordinary women of the early modern period in England understood and experienced their bodies. Using letters, popular literature, and detailed legal records from courts that were obsessively concerned with regulating morals, the book recaptures 17th-century popular understandings of sex and reproduction. This history of the female body is at once intimate and wide-ranging, with sometimes startling insights about the extent to which early modern women maintained, or forfeited, control over their own bodies. Laura Gowing explores the ways social and economic pressures of daily life shaped the lived experiences of bodies: the cost of having a child, the vulnerability of being a servant, the difficulty of prosecuting rape, the social ambiguities of widowhood. She explains how the female body was governed most of all by other women - wives and midwives. Gowing casts new light on beliefs and practices concerning women's bodies of the time and provides an original perspective on the history of women and gender.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a wonderful book... offering a new perspective on why men needed women to regulate each other and on why women were willing to do so. A provocative and persuasive piece of history" Cynthia Herrup, Duke University

From the Back Cover

"This is a wonderful book . . . offering a new perspective on why men needed women to regulate each other and on why women were willing to do so. A provocative and persuasive piece of history."-Cynthia Herrup, Duke University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300100965
• ISBN-13: 978-0300100969
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,462,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read social history, July 8, 2007

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Heather (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Common Bodies: Women, Touch and Power in 17th-Century England (Hardcover)

This is a great social history of women in 17th century England. The author writes in a way where it is fairly easy to understand the conclusions she has arrived at. It is a decently quick read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The main focus of Laura Gowing's book is how power relationships between working women, and sometimes men, worked. The author uses these relationships to explain the various meanings of touch, the touch of other women and men. She also uses these relationships to explain how patriarchal structures were enforced on women, and surprisingly enough, policed by fellow women. This is a great book because it discusses a topic not many people know and understand. The author's research is mainly court documents, which can be a good and bad thing because there was only a certain segment of society that was able to go to court and bring lawsuit. Gowing usese these court documents expertly and weaves them into the book. It's a great and intriguing read from beginning to end. I highly recommend it!