Licentious Worlds

"A history of sexual attitudes and behaviour through five hundred years of empire-building around the world, [in which], in a graphic and sometimes unsettling account, Julie Peakman examines colonization and the imperial experience puttting women back in the picture, showing their role in the building of empires, but also how marginalized men and women were almost invariably exploited. Women acted as negotiators, brothel-keepers, traders, and peacekeepers, but they were also oppressed, forced into marriages, and raped. The book describes daily life in Turkish harems, Mughal zenanas, and Japanese geisha houses, as well as in royal palaces, private households, and on board ships"-