Licentious worlds : sex and exploitation in global empires

Abstract

Sexual exploitation and perceptions of gender and sexuality seem ever present in empires and colonization: an uncomfortable spectre lurking in the shadows, which is seldom tackled head-on. Julie Peakman has with her book, Licentious Worlds: Sex and Exploitation in Global Empires, shone a bright light on this topic without shying away from its often unsettling and uncomfortable nature. She writes a well-balanced narrative, taking a ‘licentious’ subject without making it sensationalist.