TY  - BOOK
N2  - "Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as street-walkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.
AB  - "Common women" in medieval England were prostitutes, whose distinguishing feature was not that they took money for sex but that they belonged to all men in common. Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England tells the stories of these women's lives: their entrance into the trade because of poor job and marriage prospects or because of seduction or rape; their experiences as street-walkers, brothel workers or the medieval equivalent of call girls; their customers, from poor apprentices to priests to wealthy foreign merchants; and their relations with those among whom they lived. Through a sensitive use of a wide variety of imaginative and didactic texts, Ruth Karras shows that while prostitutes as individuals were marginalized within medieval culture, prostitution as an institution was central to the medieval understanding of what it meant to be a woman. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of history, women's studies, and the history of sexuality.
T1  - Common women :prostitution and sexuality in Medieval England /
DA  - 1996.
CY  - New York :
AU  - Karras, Ruth Mazo,
CN  - HQ186.A5
CN  - HQ186.A5
PB  - Oxford University Press,
PP  - New York :
PY  - 1996.
ID  - 684795
KW  - Prostitution
KW  - Prostitutes
SN  - 9780195062427
SN  - 0195062426
TI  - Common women :prostitution and sexuality in Medieval England /
LK  - http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0603/95019801-d.html
UR  - http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0603/95019801-d.html
ER  -