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Beskrivelse
How did the creation of the "Other" woman in English narratives contribute to the displacement of sexuality onto the exotic or savage woman? How did this cultural invention reinforce the cult of domesticity at home? What were the social and economic forces driving the process? Considering issues of Empire in relation to literary texts of the 18th century, this text offers a revision of the history of feminism in a postcolonial context. It argues that the need to control women's sexuality in 18th-century England intensified as the demands of trade and colonization required an ever-larger, able-bodied population. Describing how women's reproductive labour was harnessed to that task, the author explores issues such as the production of life, of goods, and of desire. She also considers a variety of cultural practices (usually construed as exotic) in England and the Empire, including polygamy, infanticide, prostitution, homoeroticism and arranged marriages. The book includes readings of texts by and about female subjects, including novels by Defoe, Richardson, Johnson, Cleland, Lennox, Sarah Scott, Frances Sheridan, and Phebe Gibbes.It also considers the more broadly defined texts of culture such as travel narratives, medical documents, legal records and engravings.
