Humiliating Reading
Some reading could be qualified as a guilty pleasure. Anyway, the "guilty" aspect of this practice may seem quite irritating as it is a judgemental perspective that we automatically associate ourselves with. As I see it, this self-accusation effect comes from the ideology of enlightenment, namely from the concept that books may determine our personality. It seems that Michel de Certeau suggested a very liberating opposing argument to this theory: the consumption of a cultural product can not fully describe who we are, probably the way we perceive it or use it is more appropriate for this purpose.
Recently I was reading a dissertation with the following title "Norms and Practices of Sexual Behavior among Russian Nobility Women, the end of 18th - beginning of 19the century" (Olga Lisitsina, 2015). In this research the author dedicates some pages to the reading aspect, highlighting that there was a broad range of forbidden books for women at that time. The most "dangerous" literature represented both russian and foreign novels that could contain the taboo information about sex. And only after acquiring the status of a married woman the social censorship used to weaken. Despite the whole historical pass of making women self-sufficient readers, old traditions still may reveal themselves.
Recently I was reading a dissertation with the following title "Norms and Practices of Sexual Behavior among Russian Nobility Women, the end of 18th - beginning of 19the century" (Olga Lisitsina, 2015). In this research the author dedicates some pages to the reading aspect, highlighting that there was a broad range of forbidden books for women at that time. The most "dangerous" literature represented both russian and foreign novels that could contain the taboo information about sex. And only after acquiring the status of a married woman the social censorship used to weaken. Despite the whole historical pass of making women self-sufficient readers, old traditions still may reveal themselves.
