The Pleasure's All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex

The Pleasure's All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex
by Julie Peakman (Author) – December 25, 2016

Handcuffs, paddles, whips the words alone are enough to make a person blush. Even by our society’s standards, the practice of things like BDSM is still very hush hush, considered deviant sexual behavior that must be kept hidden. But the narrow view of what is thought of as “normal” sex a vanilla act performed by one man and one woman is more and more contested these days. And as Julie Peakman reveals, normal never really existed; for everyone, different kinds of sex have always offered myriad pleasures, and almost all sexual behaviors have traveled between acceptance and proscription. The Pleasure’s All Mine examines two millennia of letters, diaries, court records, erotic books, medical texts, and more to explore the gamut of “deviant” sexual activity.
Delving into the specialized cultures of pain, necrophilia, and bestiality and the social world of plushies, furries, and life-size sex dolls, Peakman considers the changing attitudes toward these, as well as masturbation, “golden showers,” sadomasochism, homosexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals. She follows the history of each behavior through its original reception to its interpretation by sexologists and how it is viewed today, showing how previously acceptable behaviors now provoke social outrage, or vice versa. In addition, she questions why people have been and remain intolerant of other people’s sexual preferences.

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Product Details
Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2017 edition (December 25, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3319428659
ISBN-13: 978-3319428659
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
Average Customer Review:
5.0 out of 5 stars
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Author This Book

Julie Peakman first became interested in the history of sex when she studied Victorian prostitution for her first degree. Her study of erotica involved reading most of the eighteenth-century 'under the counter' books in the British Library resulting in her acclaimed book 'Mighty Lewd Books'. She explored the eighteenth-century in her bawdy romp through history, ‘Lascivious Bodies’ and defined the literary genre in her eight-volumes of Whore Biography 1700-1825. She teaches at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has appeared in documentaries for Channel 4, the BBC and the Biography Channel and writes articles and reviews for History Today, BBC’s Who Do You think You Are Magazine?, BBC History Magazine and Herstoria. She lives in London and on the Greek island of Leros with her partner.