Domestic dangers

Alternate Titles

• Women, words, and sex in early modern London

Description

'What else is woman but a foe to friendship ... a domestic danger.' Sexual morality was central to the patriarchal society of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century England, as demonstrated by this popular quotation, taken from a biblical commentary by St John Chrysostom. In this fascinating and original book, Laura Gowing considers what gender difference meant in the practice of daily life, examining the working of gender relations in sex, courtship, marriage conflict, and verbal disputes. Her focus is the richly detailed and hitherto unused records of litigation over sexual insult, contracts of marriage, and marital separation in London, c.1560-1640. Dr. Gowing takes a new approach to these legal testimonies. She reads them as texts with complicated layers of meanings in order to reveal precisely how culture, language, stories, and experience connected. Arguing that women's and men's sexual honour had such different meanings as to make them incommensurable, she reveals how, in every area of sex and marriage, women were perceived as acting differently, and with different results, from men. This is the first analysis of women's special experiences in the metropolis, and presents powerful evidence for women's use of legal agency. From the formal world of law to the daily world of the street, Domestic Dangers reveals the organization of gender relations and the shape of ordinary women's lives in early modern London.

First Sentence

On a doorstep in Whitechapel in the winter of 1610, Alice Rochester insulted Jane Lilham in front of their neighbours, all at work in their doorways.

Excerpt

On a doorstep in Whitechapel in the winter of 1610, Alice Rochester insulted Jane Lilham in front of their neighbours, all at work in their doorways.

Subjects

Series Statement

• Oxford studies in social history

Other Editions

• Domestic dangers: women, words, and sex in early modern LondonClarendon Press1996-01-01
• Domestic DangersOxford University Press, USA1999-02-05