Author: Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674040304
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science?
The Case of the Female Orgasm
Author: Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674040304
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science?
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674040304
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science?
The Case of the Female Orgasm
Author: Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674265467
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Elisabeth Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science? A judicious and revealing look at all twenty evolutionary accounts of the trait of human female orgasm, Lloyd's book is at the same time a case study of how certain biases steer science astray. Over the past fifteen years, the effect of sexist or male-centered approaches to science has been hotly debated. Drawing especially on data from nonhuman primates and human sexology over eighty years, Lloyd shows what damage such bias does in the study of female orgasm. She also exposes a second pernicious form of bias that permeates the literature on female orgasms: a bias toward adaptationism. Here Lloyd's critique comes alive, demonstrating how most of the evolutionary accounts either are in conflict with, or lack, certain types of evidence necessary to make their cases--how they simply assume that female orgasm must exist because it helped females in the past reproduce. As she weighs the evidence, Lloyd takes on nearly everyone who has written on the subject: evolutionists, animal behaviorists, and feminists alike. Her clearly and cogently written book is at once a convincing case study of bias in science and a sweeping summary and analysis of what is known about the evolution of the intriguing trait of female orgasm.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674265467
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Elisabeth Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science? A judicious and revealing look at all twenty evolutionary accounts of the trait of human female orgasm, Lloyd's book is at the same time a case study of how certain biases steer science astray. Over the past fifteen years, the effect of sexist or male-centered approaches to science has been hotly debated. Drawing especially on data from nonhuman primates and human sexology over eighty years, Lloyd shows what damage such bias does in the study of female orgasm. She also exposes a second pernicious form of bias that permeates the literature on female orgasms: a bias toward adaptationism. Here Lloyd's critique comes alive, demonstrating how most of the evolutionary accounts either are in conflict with, or lack, certain types of evidence necessary to make their cases--how they simply assume that female orgasm must exist because it helped females in the past reproduce. As she weighs the evidence, Lloyd takes on nearly everyone who has written on the subject: evolutionists, animal behaviorists, and feminists alike. Her clearly and cogently written book is at once a convincing case study of bias in science and a sweeping summary and analysis of what is known about the evolution of the intriguing trait of female orgasm.
The Case of the Female Orgasm
Author: Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674022461
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Elisabeth Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science? A judicious and revealing look at all twenty evolutionary accounts of the trait of human female orgasm, Lloyd's book is at the same time a case study of how certain biases steer science astray. Over the past fifteen years, the effect of sexist or male-centered approaches to science has been hotly debated. Drawing especially on data from nonhuman primates and human sexology over eighty years, Lloyd shows what damage such bias does in the study of female orgasm. She also exposes a second pernicious form of bias that permeates the literature on female orgasms: a bias toward adaptationism. Here Lloyd's critique comes alive, demonstrating how most of the evolutionary accounts either are in conflict with, or lack, certain types of evidence necessary to make their cases--how they simply assume that female orgasm must exist because it helped females in the past reproduce. As she weighs the evidence, Lloyd takes on nearly everyone who has written on the subject: evolutionists, animal behaviorists, and feminists alike. Her clearly and cogently written book is at once a convincing case study of bias in science and a sweeping summary and analysis of what is known about the evolution of the intriguing trait of female orgasm.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674022461
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Elisabeth Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science? A judicious and revealing look at all twenty evolutionary accounts of the trait of human female orgasm, Lloyd's book is at the same time a case study of how certain biases steer science astray. Over the past fifteen years, the effect of sexist or male-centered approaches to science has been hotly debated. Drawing especially on data from nonhuman primates and human sexology over eighty years, Lloyd shows what damage such bias does in the study of female orgasm. She also exposes a second pernicious form of bias that permeates the literature on female orgasms: a bias toward adaptationism. Here Lloyd's critique comes alive, demonstrating how most of the evolutionary accounts either are in conflict with, or lack, certain types of evidence necessary to make their cases--how they simply assume that female orgasm must exist because it helped females in the past reproduce. As she weighs the evidence, Lloyd takes on nearly everyone who has written on the subject: evolutionists, animal behaviorists, and feminists alike. Her clearly and cogently written book is at once a convincing case study of bias in science and a sweeping summary and analysis of what is known about the evolution of the intriguing trait of female orgasm.
The Technology of Orgasm
Author: Rachel P. Maines
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801866463
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The author explores hysteria in Western medicine throughout the ages and examines the characterization of female sexuality as a disease requiring treatment. Medical authorities, she writes, were able to defend and justify the clinical production of orgasm in women as necessary to maintain the dominant view of sexuality, which defined sex as penetration to male orgasm - a practice that consistently fails to produce orgasm in a majority of the female population. This male-centered definition of satisfying and healthy coitus shaped not only the development of concepts of female sexual pathology but also the instrumentation designed to cope with them.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801866463
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The author explores hysteria in Western medicine throughout the ages and examines the characterization of female sexuality as a disease requiring treatment. Medical authorities, she writes, were able to defend and justify the clinical production of orgasm in women as necessary to maintain the dominant view of sexuality, which defined sex as penetration to male orgasm - a practice that consistently fails to produce orgasm in a majority of the female population. This male-centered definition of satisfying and healthy coitus shaped not only the development of concepts of female sexual pathology but also the instrumentation designed to cope with them.
The Science of Orgasm
Author: Barry R. Komisaruk
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
ISBN: 0801888956
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
This award-winning book “offers a thorough compilation of what modern science, from biomechanics to neurochemistry, knows about the secrets of orgasm” (Publishers Weekly). The coauthor of the international best-selling book The G Spot and Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality, Beverly Whipple joins neuroscientist Barry R. Komisaruk and endocrinologist Carlos Beyer-Flores to view orgasm through the lenses of behavioral neuroscience along with cognitive and physiological sciences. Covering every type of sexual peak experience in women and men from intense to phantom, this fascinating and comprehensive work illuminates the hows, whats, and wherefores of orgasm. The authors explain how and why orgasms happen, why they fail to happen, and what brain and body events are put into play at the moment of orgasm. They also describes the genital-brain connection, how the brain produces orgasms, how aging affects orgasm, and the effects of prescription medication, street drugs, hormones, disorders, and diseases. Winner of the 2007 Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award, given by the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
ISBN: 0801888956
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
This award-winning book “offers a thorough compilation of what modern science, from biomechanics to neurochemistry, knows about the secrets of orgasm” (Publishers Weekly). The coauthor of the international best-selling book The G Spot and Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality, Beverly Whipple joins neuroscientist Barry R. Komisaruk and endocrinologist Carlos Beyer-Flores to view orgasm through the lenses of behavioral neuroscience along with cognitive and physiological sciences. Covering every type of sexual peak experience in women and men from intense to phantom, this fascinating and comprehensive work illuminates the hows, whats, and wherefores of orgasm. The authors explain how and why orgasms happen, why they fail to happen, and what brain and body events are put into play at the moment of orgasm. They also describes the genital-brain connection, how the brain produces orgasms, how aging affects orgasm, and the effects of prescription medication, street drugs, hormones, disorders, and diseases. Winner of the 2007 Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award, given by the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
Textbook of Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction
Author: Irwin Goldstein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119266092
Category : Medical
Languages : de
Pages : 398
Book Description
A comprehensive text on female sexual function and dysfunction that offers a multi-disciplinary, biopsychosocial approach to diagnosis and treatment Textbook of Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction offers a multi-disciplinary, biopsychosocial approach and provides guidance for the safe and effective diagnosis and treatment of various sexual health issues. With contributions from an international panel of experts, the text provides the scientific basis of the clinical recommendations for dealing with problems of sexual, desire, arousal, orgasm and pain. The text is clearly organised around the four major disease states in female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and is officially endorsed by the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH). The authors cover a wealth of topics such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, psychological management of sexual disorders, anatomy and physiology of sexual dysfunction and pain and information on future developments and research. In addition, the text reviews all FDA approved medications for sexual dysfunction and contains consideration of off-label treatments for FSDs. This important text: • Offers the only textbook to highlight female sexual dysfunction in light of recently approved FDA medications • Contains a unique biopsychosocial approach from a collaborative team of physicians, psychologists, physical therapists as well as other sexual health professionals • Presents a comprehensive text led by one of the foremost global experts in Women's Sexual Health, Irwin Goldstein, founder of ISSWSH, with three other past presidents and one president-elect Written for any professional dealing with women's sexual health, Textbook of Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction offers an invaluable guide to the most safe and effective diagnosis and treatment.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119266092
Category : Medical
Languages : de
Pages : 398
Book Description
A comprehensive text on female sexual function and dysfunction that offers a multi-disciplinary, biopsychosocial approach to diagnosis and treatment Textbook of Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction offers a multi-disciplinary, biopsychosocial approach and provides guidance for the safe and effective diagnosis and treatment of various sexual health issues. With contributions from an international panel of experts, the text provides the scientific basis of the clinical recommendations for dealing with problems of sexual, desire, arousal, orgasm and pain. The text is clearly organised around the four major disease states in female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and is officially endorsed by the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH). The authors cover a wealth of topics such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, psychological management of sexual disorders, anatomy and physiology of sexual dysfunction and pain and information on future developments and research. In addition, the text reviews all FDA approved medications for sexual dysfunction and contains consideration of off-label treatments for FSDs. This important text: • Offers the only textbook to highlight female sexual dysfunction in light of recently approved FDA medications • Contains a unique biopsychosocial approach from a collaborative team of physicians, psychologists, physical therapists as well as other sexual health professionals • Presents a comprehensive text led by one of the foremost global experts in Women's Sexual Health, Irwin Goldstein, founder of ISSWSH, with three other past presidents and one president-elect Written for any professional dealing with women's sexual health, Textbook of Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction offers an invaluable guide to the most safe and effective diagnosis and treatment.
The Real Orgasm
Author: Dominic Daniels
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781540864772
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
About 7 years ago, the love of my life dumped me because I "wasn't satisfying her in bed." Naturally, my ego was crushed and I went into a severe depression for a few months. But eventually when I finally got over my depression, I knew that I had to figure this whole "female orgasm" thing out. I didn't want to live the rest of my life not being able to make a woman orgasm. So, I began my search. The books that I found offered the same regurgitated information on where the clitoris is located, and the best positions to stimulate it. And as much as you'd think that information would help, it didn't get me the results I was looking for. I couldn't make my partner - whoever she was - consistently orgasm. To say my "orgasm ratio" was 10% - making her cum 1 out of 10 times - would be generous. So, I did what I thought was the next best thing. I went to my best girlfriend at the time and asked her if she would let me interview her about her orgasmic process. Thankfully, she did. And she liked my questions so much that she referred me to her friends, who referred me to their friends, who referred me to their friends, so on. Within 9 months, I had over 360 interviews... and I had completely changed in the process. I spent the next 6 years practicing the things I had learned from those interviews... and a few more things that I learned along the way. And now..? More than 90% of the time, I can make my lover orgasm. If we're dating, 100% of the time. Here's what I learned: 1) As long as you understand the sexual philosophy of the woman you're about to undress, you'll know how to treat her through the process (Soft, Hard, Combinations) 2) The only way you can truly understand her sexual philosophy is by asking the right questions and mastering the art of sexual communication. 3) Then you must own your role in the sexual process. Especially when playing the role of the leader. If you are to lead her to her orgasm, you must feel confident in not just your sexual abilities, but yourself as a whole. 4) Once you have the above 3 handled, you then use the key positions with the right rhythms to bring her to an intense - whole body - orgasm... whether or not clitoral stimulation is involved. Within the book, "The Real Orgasm" you will see the detailed breakdowns of the sexual philosophies I encountered throughout my interviews and the types of sexual personalities those women had. You will also learn the questions I asked to learn everything that I learned from those women. And in case you're wondering... yes, I did sleep with a few of the women that I interviewed. I'm not saying it to boast... well, maybe a little... but I'm mainly saying it because these questions work. They let her know that you're interested in HER... and if you actually pay attention, you'll learn EVERYTHING you need to know to make her cum like a geyser. You will also learn the best strategies and tactics that thousands of men use - including myself - to build an inner core of confidence, dominance, and seduction. This is not about being an overbearing asshole. It's about owning your place as the leader and feeling comfortable there. And finally... you will learn the key positions that virtually guarantee orgasm, as well as, my secret hacks for developing the best sexual rhythm for repetitive orgasms. This information truly transformed my life... The simple fact that I know all of this gives me the type of confidence that most guys would kill for. Not conceit. Confidence. The kind of stuff that "dime pieces" notice. The kind of stuff that gets their panties wet before any physical contact is made. And when we end up in the bedroom, everything flows so smoothly and most importantly. I'm in control of myself the whole time and therefore, can comfortably control the situation. My partner orgasms over and over and OVER again... and most importantly... ...it's all so very sexy.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781540864772
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
About 7 years ago, the love of my life dumped me because I "wasn't satisfying her in bed." Naturally, my ego was crushed and I went into a severe depression for a few months. But eventually when I finally got over my depression, I knew that I had to figure this whole "female orgasm" thing out. I didn't want to live the rest of my life not being able to make a woman orgasm. So, I began my search. The books that I found offered the same regurgitated information on where the clitoris is located, and the best positions to stimulate it. And as much as you'd think that information would help, it didn't get me the results I was looking for. I couldn't make my partner - whoever she was - consistently orgasm. To say my "orgasm ratio" was 10% - making her cum 1 out of 10 times - would be generous. So, I did what I thought was the next best thing. I went to my best girlfriend at the time and asked her if she would let me interview her about her orgasmic process. Thankfully, she did. And she liked my questions so much that she referred me to her friends, who referred me to their friends, who referred me to their friends, so on. Within 9 months, I had over 360 interviews... and I had completely changed in the process. I spent the next 6 years practicing the things I had learned from those interviews... and a few more things that I learned along the way. And now..? More than 90% of the time, I can make my lover orgasm. If we're dating, 100% of the time. Here's what I learned: 1) As long as you understand the sexual philosophy of the woman you're about to undress, you'll know how to treat her through the process (Soft, Hard, Combinations) 2) The only way you can truly understand her sexual philosophy is by asking the right questions and mastering the art of sexual communication. 3) Then you must own your role in the sexual process. Especially when playing the role of the leader. If you are to lead her to her orgasm, you must feel confident in not just your sexual abilities, but yourself as a whole. 4) Once you have the above 3 handled, you then use the key positions with the right rhythms to bring her to an intense - whole body - orgasm... whether or not clitoral stimulation is involved. Within the book, "The Real Orgasm" you will see the detailed breakdowns of the sexual philosophies I encountered throughout my interviews and the types of sexual personalities those women had. You will also learn the questions I asked to learn everything that I learned from those women. And in case you're wondering... yes, I did sleep with a few of the women that I interviewed. I'm not saying it to boast... well, maybe a little... but I'm mainly saying it because these questions work. They let her know that you're interested in HER... and if you actually pay attention, you'll learn EVERYTHING you need to know to make her cum like a geyser. You will also learn the best strategies and tactics that thousands of men use - including myself - to build an inner core of confidence, dominance, and seduction. This is not about being an overbearing asshole. It's about owning your place as the leader and feeling comfortable there. And finally... you will learn the key positions that virtually guarantee orgasm, as well as, my secret hacks for developing the best sexual rhythm for repetitive orgasms. This information truly transformed my life... The simple fact that I know all of this gives me the type of confidence that most guys would kill for. Not conceit. Confidence. The kind of stuff that "dime pieces" notice. The kind of stuff that gets their panties wet before any physical contact is made. And when we end up in the bedroom, everything flows so smoothly and most importantly. I'm in control of myself the whole time and therefore, can comfortably control the situation. My partner orgasms over and over and OVER again... and most importantly... ...it's all so very sexy.
Orgasmology
Author: Annamarie Jagose
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822353911
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
For all its vaunted attention to sexuality, queer theory has had relatively little to say about sex, the material and psychic practices through which erotic gratification is sought. In Orgasmology, Annamarie Jagose takes orgasm as her queer scholarly object. From simultaneous to fake orgasms, from medical imaging to pornographic visualization, from impersonal sexual publics to domestic erotic intimacies, Jagose traces the career of orgasm across the twentieth century. Along the way, she examines marriage manuals of the 1920s and 1930s, designed to teach heterosexual couples how to achieve simultaneous orgasms; provides a queer reading of behavioral modification practices of the 1960s and 1970s, aimed at transforming gay men into heterosexuals; and demonstrates how representations of orgasm have shaped ideas about sexuality and sexual identity. A confident and often counterintuitive engagement with feminist and queer traditions of critical thought, Orgasmology affords fresh perspectives on not just sex, sexual orientation, and histories of sexuality, but also agency, ethics, intimacy, modernity, selfhood, and sociality. As modern subjects, we presume we already know everything there is to know about orgasm. This elegantly argued book suggests that orgasm still has plenty to teach us.
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822353911
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
For all its vaunted attention to sexuality, queer theory has had relatively little to say about sex, the material and psychic practices through which erotic gratification is sought. In Orgasmology, Annamarie Jagose takes orgasm as her queer scholarly object. From simultaneous to fake orgasms, from medical imaging to pornographic visualization, from impersonal sexual publics to domestic erotic intimacies, Jagose traces the career of orgasm across the twentieth century. Along the way, she examines marriage manuals of the 1920s and 1930s, designed to teach heterosexual couples how to achieve simultaneous orgasms; provides a queer reading of behavioral modification practices of the 1960s and 1970s, aimed at transforming gay men into heterosexuals; and demonstrates how representations of orgasm have shaped ideas about sexuality and sexual identity. A confident and often counterintuitive engagement with feminist and queer traditions of critical thought, Orgasmology affords fresh perspectives on not just sex, sexual orientation, and histories of sexuality, but also agency, ethics, intimacy, modernity, selfhood, and sociality. As modern subjects, we presume we already know everything there is to know about orgasm. This elegantly argued book suggests that orgasm still has plenty to teach us.
Science Astray
Author: Time-Life Books
Publisher: Time Life Education
ISBN: 9780809476916
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 143
Book Description
Describes the areas in which science has gotten away from the facts, including obsolete theories, the errors of distingushed scientists, attempts to make the facts fit the theory, and pseudo-science in the service of ideology
Publisher: Time Life Education
ISBN: 9780809476916
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 143
Book Description
Describes the areas in which science has gotten away from the facts, including obsolete theories, the errors of distingushed scientists, attempts to make the facts fit the theory, and pseudo-science in the service of ideology
Neo-Victorian Humour
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004336613
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
This volume highlights humour’s crucial role in shaping historical re-visions of the long nineteenth century, through modes ranging from subtle irony, camp excess, ribald farce, and aesthetic parody to blackly comic narrative games. It analyses neo-Victorian humour’s politicisation, its ideological functions and ethical implications across varied media, including fiction, drama, film, webcomics, and fashion. Contemporary humour maps the assumed distance between postmodernity and its targeted nineteenth-century referents only to repeatedly collapse the same in a seemingly self-defeating nihilistic project. This collection explores how neo-Victorian humour generates empathy and effective socio-political critique, dispensing symbolic justice, but also risks recycling the past’s invidious ideologies under the politically correct guise of comic debunking, even to the point of negating laughter itself. "This rich and innovative collection invites us to reflect on the complex and various deployments of humour in neo-Victorian texts, where its consumers may wish at times that they could swallow back the laughter a scene or event provokes. It covers a range of approaches to humour utilised by neo-Victorian writers, dramatists, graphic novelists and filmmakers – including the deliberately and pompously unfunny, the traumatic, the absurd, the ribald, and the frankly distasteful – producing a richly satisfying anthology of innovative readings of ‘canonical’ neo-Victorian texts as well as those which are potential generic outliers. The collection explores what is funny in the neo-Victorian and who we are laughing at – the Victorians, as we like to imagine them, or ourselves, in ways we rarely acknowledge? This is a celebration of the parodic playfulness of a wide range of texts, from fiction to fashion, whilst offering a trenchant critique of the politics of postmodern laughter that will appeal to those working in adaptation studies, gender and queer studies, as well as literary and cultural studies more generally." - Prof. Imelda Whelehan, University of Tasmania, Australia
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004336613
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
This volume highlights humour’s crucial role in shaping historical re-visions of the long nineteenth century, through modes ranging from subtle irony, camp excess, ribald farce, and aesthetic parody to blackly comic narrative games. It analyses neo-Victorian humour’s politicisation, its ideological functions and ethical implications across varied media, including fiction, drama, film, webcomics, and fashion. Contemporary humour maps the assumed distance between postmodernity and its targeted nineteenth-century referents only to repeatedly collapse the same in a seemingly self-defeating nihilistic project. This collection explores how neo-Victorian humour generates empathy and effective socio-political critique, dispensing symbolic justice, but also risks recycling the past’s invidious ideologies under the politically correct guise of comic debunking, even to the point of negating laughter itself. "This rich and innovative collection invites us to reflect on the complex and various deployments of humour in neo-Victorian texts, where its consumers may wish at times that they could swallow back the laughter a scene or event provokes. It covers a range of approaches to humour utilised by neo-Victorian writers, dramatists, graphic novelists and filmmakers – including the deliberately and pompously unfunny, the traumatic, the absurd, the ribald, and the frankly distasteful – producing a richly satisfying anthology of innovative readings of ‘canonical’ neo-Victorian texts as well as those which are potential generic outliers. The collection explores what is funny in the neo-Victorian and who we are laughing at – the Victorians, as we like to imagine them, or ourselves, in ways we rarely acknowledge? This is a celebration of the parodic playfulness of a wide range of texts, from fiction to fashion, whilst offering a trenchant critique of the politics of postmodern laughter that will appeal to those working in adaptation studies, gender and queer studies, as well as literary and cultural studies more generally." - Prof. Imelda Whelehan, University of Tasmania, Australia