Sexing the text
Subtitle: the rhetoric of sexual difference in British literature, 1700-1750
By: Todd C. Parker.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
Subjects: English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Sex differences (Psychology) in literature; English language -- Great Britain -- Rhetoric; English language -- 18th century -- Rhetoric; Sex differences in literature; Body, Human, in literature; Masculinity in literature; Femininity in literature; Sex role in literature; Sex in literature
Other titles: Rhetoric of sexual difference in British literature, 1700-1750
Description: "A contribution to the study of the history of sexuality, this book examines the emergence of a new kind of heterosexual rhetoric in the early eighteenth century, a rhetoric that ultimately displaced earlier and more diverse expressions of sexuality and the body.

Drawing on traditional scholarly methods as well as recent queer-theoretical perspectives, the book traces the rise of the modern paradigm of compulsory heterosexuality, and counters certain feminist assumptions about the nature of "masculinity" and "male character" during the period.

Throughout, Parker offers readings of a variety of texts, including the fiercely homophobic pamphlet Onania; or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, Jonathan Swift's political satires on William Wood and Richard Tighe, Alexander Pope's poems To Cobham and To a Lady, Eliza Haywood's romance novel Philidore and Placentia, and John Cleland's pornographic novel Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-209) and index.