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University of California Press

Frail Social Body: Pornography, Homosexuality, and Other Fantasies in Interwar France Volume 36

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Title: Frail Social Body: Pornography, Homosexuality, and Other Fantasies in Interwar France Volume 36
Author: Carolyn J Dean
ISBN: 9780520219953
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2000
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Condition: Used: Good
Moderate edge wear. Binding good. May have marking in text. We sometimes source from libraries. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.

R 1658098

Publisher Description:
Amid the national shame and subjugation following World War I in France, cultural critics there--journalists, novelists, doctors, and legislators, among others--worked to rehabilitate what was perceived as an unhealthy social body. Carolyn J. Dean shows how these critics attempted to reconstruct the "bodily integrity" of the nation by pointing to the dangers of homosexuality and pornography. Dean's provocative work demonstrates the importance of this concept of bodily integrity in France and shows how it was ultimately used to define first-class citizenship.

Dean presents fresh historical material--including novels and medical treatises--to show how fantasies about the body-violating qualities of homosexuality and pornography informed social perceptions and political action. Although she focuses on the period from 1890 to 1945, Dean also establishes the relevance of these ideas to current preoccupations with pornography and sexuality in the United States.