Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Committee Chair
Anna M. Foy
Committee Member
Joseph Taylor
Committee Member
Chad Thomas
Subject(s)
John Cleland (1709-1789)--Memoirs of a woman of pleasure--History and criticism, English erotic stories--History and criticism, Feminist theory, Pornography--Social aspects, Rape
Abstract
This work posits that Memoirs, although often viewed as simple pornography, pointedly reveals the failings of eighteenth-century rape law to protect women. Cleland’s sex scenes not only titillate his readers, but also represent the markers of consent, force, and penetration typical of common law. Fanny Hill describes the victim’s ability to make utterance and the volume of each sound, mirroring the common law’s need for women to demonstrate active resistance by crying out. Thus, Cleland troubles the prevalent eighteenth-century notion of silence as consent. Furthermore, I argue that Cleland ties a woman’s ability to resist actively sexual advances, through utterance, to her perception of self-ownership, because a woman must own her body to claim a right to her own sexual agency. Sexual agency gives Fanny Hill the ability to enter into marriage as an equal to her male partner, Charles.
Recommended Citation
Black, Mellissa, "John Cleland's representations of crying out and female self-ownership in Memoirs of a woman of pleasure" (2015). Theses. 138.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/138