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Book
Author Karras, Ruth Mazo, 1957-

Title Common women : prostitution and sexuality in Medieval England / Ruth Mazo Karras
Published New York : Oxford University Press, 1996

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  306.74 Kar/Cwp  AVAILABLE
Description viii, 221 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Series Studies in the history of sexuality
Studies in the history of sexuality.
Contents Introduction: Common Women, Prostitutes, and Whores -- 1. Prostitution and the Law -- 2. Brothels, Licit and Illicit -- 3. Becoming a Prostitute -- 4. The Sex Trade in Practice -- 5. Marriage, Sexuality, and Marginality -- 6. Saints and Sinners -- Conclusion: Sexuality, Money, and the Whore
Summary 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
"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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-213) and index
Subject Prostitutes -- England -- Social conditions.
Prostitution -- England -- History.
Social history -- Medieval, 500-1500.
SUBJECT England -- Social conditions -- 1066-1485. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85043312
LC no. 95019801
ISBN 0195062426 (acid-free paper)