Research Catalog

Title

Gender, sex and subordination in England 1500-1800 / Anthony Fletcher.

Author

Fletcher, Anthony.

Publication

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxii, 442 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• Men and women in early modern England lived their lives within a social and gender framework inherited from biblical times. Patriarchy - the social and cultural dominance of the male - has long been a fundamental feature of western civilisation, yet has only recently begun to be systematically investigated by historians. This book is the first attempt to provide a rounded portrait of its workings over a long stretch of the English past.
• Fletcher's account draws from a vast range of sources - literary, medical, religious and historical - to investigate the mechanisms through which men and women interpreted and understood their social worlds. He explores the early modern view of the body, of sexual desire and appetites, and of gender difference. He looks at the nature of marital relationships, and shows how subordination was implemented and consolidated through church, school, home and community.
• And he exposes patriarchy's tragic consequences: smothered opportunity, crushed sexuality, and a pall across many women's lives.
• Yet, over these three centuries, the conventional foundations of male superiority came under acute pressure. Fletcher reveals the depth of male anxiety in the face of women's volatility, verbal assertiveness and alleged vibrant sexuality, and shows how the gender system began to be transformed as men sought to detach it from its biblical foundations and inculcate gender identities on something like their modern ideological basis.
• This revolution in the entire premise upon which gender was grounded is fundamental to an understanding of the structure of English society today.

Subject

• Sex role > England > History
• Patriarchy > England > History > 16th century
• Patriarchy > England > History > 17th century
• Sex role in literature
• England > Social conditions

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (414-433) and index.

Contents

Pt. I. Before the Gendered Body. 1. Prologue: Men's Dilemmas. 2. Functional Anatomies. 3. Fungible Fluids, Heat and Concoction. 4. The Weaker Vessel. 5. Effeminacy and Manhood -- Pt. II. The Working of Patriarchy. 6. Prologue: Prescription and Honour Codes. 7. The Gentry and Honour. 8. Husbands and Wives: Case Studies. 9. Living Together. 10. Marital Violence. 11. Household Order. 12. Men's Work, Women's Work. 13. Beyond the Household -- Pt. III. Towards Modern Gender. 14. Prologue: New Thinking, New Knowledge. 15. Educating Boys. 16. The Construction of Masculinity. 17. Women and Religion. 18. Educating Girls. 19. The Construction of Femininity. 20. Gender, Patriarchy and Early Modern Society.

ISBN

0300065310

LCCN

95021565

OCLC

• 32589244
• ocm32589244

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries