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Article: A History of Rape: Sexual Violence in France from the 16th to the 20th Century.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A History of Rape: Sexual Violence in France from the 16th to the 20th Century. By Georges Vigarello. Trans. by Jean Birrell. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001. Pp. i, 306. $26.95.)
This study synthesizes archival research and recent secondary literature on the history of sexual violence in France from the early modern period through the twentieth century. An excellent survey of the evolution of popular, learned, and juridical attitudes toward rape, this work is suitable for students as well as scholars. Georges Vigarello demonstrates that definitions of rape were a function of cultural attitudes toward violence and its victims, who were mostly society's weakest ...