The body and botany: “the first step toward the brothel”

King, Helen (2022). The body and botany: “the first step toward the brothel”. In: Santos Pinheiro, Cristina; Silva, Gabriel A. F.; Fonseca, Rui Carlos; Mota, Bernardo Machado and Pinheiro, Joaquim eds. Gynecia: Studies on Gynaecology in Ancient, Medieval and Early-modern Texts. Porto: Edições Afrontamento, pp. 11–26.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51427/10451/57594

Abstract

From menstruation as “the flowers” to the young girl on the brink of sexual experience as “blooming”, the use of floral imagery for the female body has a long history, crossing both medical and popular texts and covering both the processes of generation and the anatomy of the female organs. By concentrating on three self-help texts from the late nineteenth century, this paper examines the different uses of floral imagery written by women, for women.

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