Female sexuality in the early medieval Islamic world : gender and sex in Arabic literature Cover Image

E-book

Female sexuality in the early medieval Islamic world : gender and sex in Arabic literature / Pernilla Myrne.

Summary:

"In the early Islamic world, Arabic erotic compendia and sex manuals were a popular literary genre. Although primarily written by male authors, the erotic publications from this era often emphasised the sexual needs of women and the importance of female romantic fulfilment. Pernilla Myrne here explores this phenomenon, examining a range of Arabic literature to shed fresh light onto the complexities of female sexuality under the Abbasids and the Buyids. Based on an impressive array of neglected medical, religious-legal, literary and entertainment sources, Myrne elucidates the tension between depictions of women's strong sexual agency and their subordinated social role in various contexts. In the process she uncovers a great diversity of approaches from the 9th to the 11th century, including the sexual handbook the Encyclopedia of Pleasure (Jawami' al-ladhdha), which portrayed the diversity of female desires, asserting the importance of mutual satisfaction through lively poems and stories. This is the first in-depth, comprehensive analysis of female sexuality in the early Islamic world and is essential reading for all scholars of Middle Eastern history and Arabic literature."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781838605025
ISBN: 1838605029
ISBN: 9781838605032
ISBN: 1838605037
Physical Description: 1 online resource (241 pages)
Publisher: London : I.B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2020.
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Cover page; Halftitle page; Series page; Title page; Copyright page; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; On translation of sexually explicit words; Part One Discourses on Female Sexuality; 1 Sexuality, Pleasure and Health; Background: Islamic medical authors; Sex differences in Greek and Islamic medical theory; Seed and reproduction; Sexual health in Islamic medicine; Women's sexual health; Women's sexual pleasure; Conclusion: Women's health and pleasure; 2 A World of Pleasure; Medicine in the Encyclopaedia of Pleasure; Seed and harmony; Erotology in the Encyclopaedia of Pleasure Women's shahwa and female natureWomen's expertise in the Encyclopaedia of Pleasure; Conclusion: Women in an erotic compendium; 3 Women and Sexual Rights; Female sexuality and marriage; Men's rights, women's duties; Do Women have sexual rights?; Female seed and purity; Chaste and lustful: the ideal wife; Towards women's sexual rights; Part Two Women's Words and Preferences; 4 Female Strategies and Verbal Battles; Women's voices in poetry and prose; Women's verbal proficiency: concluding remarks; 5 Sexual Comedy and Women's Bodies; Battle of the sexes; The vagina as a poetic motif Sexual comedy and female authorshipWomen's bodies in satire and mujūn; Defaming women: Hubbā al-Madīniyya; Defaming women: the Abbasid courtesans; A woman's response: ʻArīb; Concluding remarks; 6 Sisters and Lovers; Female homosexuality and sahq; Lesbians speaking out; Lesbian love and comedy; Why sahq? Medical and social explanations; Al-Samaw ʼal on sahq; Concluding remarks; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Source of Description Note:	Print version record.