Licentious Worlds

This is a substantial and copiously illustrated introduction to issues of gender and exploitation in the development of global empires since the late fifteenth century. Julie Peakman writes back women (and persons of marginalised sexualities) into the story of colonialism and empires—and shows how often initial colonial encounters involved sex-starved seamen raping the first women they came across after lengthy voyages, or at the very least, interactions based on mercenary exchange rather than romantic idyll. However, while not ignoring the significantly oppressed role that women largely occupied, she also demonstrates the ways in which women could sometimes obtain some degree of agency. Particularly in the early stages when situations were still fluid, they might act as valuable go-betweens in liminal zones of trade and negotiation as two cultures met. There were also women who, through their connections with individual powerful men, could gain significant influence of their own from an

Sociology · History · Sex work and related issues