The Eye: A History
Cicero (106-43 B.C.): ‘Nature has given us eyes to declare our internal emotions’. Paulo Coelho (1947-): ‘The eyes are the mirror of the...
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JOANNA BOURKE
Blogs
Here are my latest blogs! Enjoy.
- Feb 5
- 16 min
The Stomach: A History
Punch divided the stomach into four ‘Faculties’. It called the first the ‘Sustaining Faculty’, which dealt with foods that were essential...
110
- Feb 5
- 15 min
Hair: A History
In June 2015, Rachel Dolezal was exposed for having lied about being of African American heritage. Dolezal was head of her local branch...
80
- Feb 5
- 17 min
Feet (and Feetishism!)
The foot. Where will feet take us today? In the middle of a pandemic [I first wrote this blog during lock-down!], most of us will be...
00
- Feb 5
- 16 min
Clitoris and Penis: A History
This blog comes with a warning: it is not for those delicate of hearing or squeamish of stomach because today I am writing about two sex...
20
- Feb 5
- 17 min
Breasts: Free the Nipple!
On 21 June 1986, nine American women removed their shirts in a park in Rochester, New York. They were protesting against a law which...
60
- Feb 5
- 20 min
Cruelty to Animals
Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s ‘Girl Making a Dog Dance on Her Bed’ was painted in the late 1760s. The painting is typical of his decadent...
20
- Feb 5
- 21 min
A (very short) Global History of Sexual Violence
This is a short piece from my book, Disgrace (Reaktion Books, 2022) Sexual violence: it is a difficult subject to talk about. There is...
60
- Feb 5
- 11 min
Training in Violence: Military Hazing
In 1975, Dennis Coates published a short book of poetry inspired by his time at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. One poem –...
20
- Feb 5
- 29 min
State Torture
Just two months after the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington DC, Fox TV broadcast the first of their series ‘24’. The main...
00
- Feb 5
- 24 min
Breast Cancer: Stories and Activism
In September 1971, Ebony magazine published an article that broke a major taboo: a survivor of breast cancer wrote candidly about her...
380
- Feb 5
- 31 min
AIDS: A History
Between 25 and 40 million people worldwide have died as a result of opportunistic infections arising from AIDS or Acquired...
10
- Feb 5
- 28 min
Tuberculosis: A History
What does tuberculosis look like? If we are thinking about the early-nineteenth century, we might imagine an emaciated, white, male...
70
- Feb 5
- 23 min
Sickle Cell Disease: A History
In April 1973, cinemas throughout America began screening a tearjerking love story, the plot of which revolved around sickle cell...
30
- Feb 5
- 23 min
Polio: A History (The Great Cat Massacre of 1916!)
The Great Cat Massacre in New York City began in July 1916. By the end of that month, 72,000 cats and around 8,000 dogs had been...
20
- Feb 5
- 25 min
Dementia: A History
A few weeks before writing this blog, I was launching a book that I had recently published. A former PhD student of mine and someone I...
10
- Feb 5
- 3 min
Athens: A Guide to the City
It is impossible not to be charmed by Athens. At night, bouzouki music wells up from dark basements; tables spill out of ouzeris, around...
70
- Feb 5
- 24 min
Sex Work: A History
To whom does a woman’s body belong? In mid-nineteenth century Britain, this question provoked impassioned debates between moralists,...
40
- Feb 5
- 20 min
Abstinence: A History
Is sex a ‘good thing’? Is celibacy dangerous? How can we understand the explosive violence of Incels, those young men (primarily) whose...
10
- Feb 5
- 18 min
Monogamy: A History
Why is monogamy such a big deal? What can a history of fidelity and infidelity reveal about the changing rights, duties, and social...
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