| Description |
xii, 215 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
|
regular print |
| Contents |
1. Prostitution, performance, and Mae West : speaking from the whore position -- 2. Betty Boutell, "whom all the town fucks" : constructing the actress/whore -- 3. Memoir and masquerade : Charlotte Charke, Margaret Leeson, and eighteenth-century performances of self -- 4. Burlesque, breeches, and blondes : illegitimate nineteenth-century cultural and theatrical performance -- 5. "We need status as actresses!" : contemporary prostitution and performance -- 6. Afterpiece : millennial prostitution |
| Summary |
"The image of the actress as prostitute has haunted the theatrical profession since women first went on the stage. Kirsten Pullen explores the history of this connection both in the cultural imagination and in real life. She shows, through case studies of women working in Britain and the United States between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, that some women have drawn on the dual tradition of "whore" as radical and victim to carve out a space for female sexual agency. Female performers from Elizabeth Boutell and Charlotte Charke to Mae West redefined gender identity and appropriate female sexuality. Pullen integrates substantial archival research and interviews with working prostitutes with a consideration of feminist and cultural perspectives on the myth and reality of the actress/whore. This study offers many new insights to theatre historians and scholars of cultural, social, and gender studies."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-212) and index |
| Subject |
Actresses -- Great Britain -- Social conditions.
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Actresses -- United States -- Social conditions.
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Feminism and theater -- Great Britain -- History.
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Feminism and theater -- United States -- History.
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Prostitutes -- Great Britain -- Social conditions.
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Prostitutes -- United States -- Social conditions.
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| LC no. |
2004049430 |
| ISBN |
0521541026 (paperback) |
|
0521833418 (hardback) |
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