Bloomsbury Amatory Pleasures: Explorations in Eighteenth-Century Sexual Culture

Encompassing the long 18th century, Amatory Pleasures examines a broad and enticing variety of topics in the history of sexuality in Georgian times. It includes discussion of sexual perversion, criminal conversation, erotic gardens, gentlemens homosocial societies, flagellation, pornography, writings of courtesans and the world of female friendship, revealing the secret or hidden meanings circulating between mainstream and covert activities of the 18th century. Julie Peakman draws connections between these pieces and situates them within current debates and examines how Georgian sexual activity was integrated from low life and high places, from brothels to palaces. Aimed at anyone interested in gender, history of sexuality, sex, literature and 18th-century history, Amatory Pleasures is an invaluable collection of the work of a key scholar in the field. Review "This book is a rich compendium of historical materials, and it attempts to make sense of ideas and attitudes as it presents them ... All of this makes for engaging reading, and the volume works well as an introduction to these topics." - Studies in English Literature"[This] is a book that will delight readers, both academic and general, in its attention to the preferences, perversions and predilections of eighteenth-century folk." - EuropeNow About the Author Julie Peakman is an Honorary Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is a historian renowned for her work on the global history of sexuality. She is author of Mighty Lewd Books: The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-century England (2003), Lascivious Bodies: A Sexual History of the Eighteenth Century (2004), The Pleasure’s All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex (2013) and general editor of the six-volume A Cultural History of Sexuality (2010).