The Secret Malady
Subtitle: Venereal Disease in Eighteenth-Century Britain and France
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: January 1997
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 269
ISBN-13: 9780813119892
Subjects: Social history; Venereal diseases; c 1700 to c 1800; History - General History; Great Britain; Health/Fitness; United Kingdom, Great Britain; Infectious Diseases; Europe - General; France; 18th century; History; Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Description: Like AIDS today, venereal disease existed in epidemical proportions in eighteenth-century Britain and France. Medical practitioners of every stripe - legitimate and otherwise - knew little but wrote volumes about its origins, symptoms, and "cures." The pathology of the disease remained elusive throughout the century despite frequent and loud debates on the topic in the press.

The essays in this collection paint a portrait of the secret malady - public and private responses to the epidemic; changing attitudes toward the disease; and its role in making sex a taboo subject, in enforcing class and racial distinctions, and in raising the level of misogyny. The interdisciplinary nature of the collection makes this an important and fascinating work for scholars in several fields, including history, art, literature, the history of medicine, and women's studies.