Sex with the Queen by Elizabeth Herman

[msmcknittington]

This is, quite possibly, the worst non-fiction book I have ever read. A comment on a previous post in the comm reminded me of it, and I thought I should share. Forewarning, like a literary lighthouse

Comments

[mrasaki]

Obviously, this is Mary Sue fanfiction thinly disguised as actual history. (And footnotes? Who needs footnotes when you have ~imagination~?)

Although, your hilarious comments made me laugh aloud in several places and now I'm sorta curious to read this trainwreck for myself.

[msmcknittington]

Pretty much! I guess my standards are just too high, in that I expect my non-fiction books to contain actual facts.

Nooo, don't do it! You will be annoyed at the book for years to come. Trust me on this. It happened to me. As we speak, it is happening to me.

[jadedissola]

Pfft facts and research. Who needs that?

[msmcknittington]

Not people who write about history, that's for damn certain. Have you ever heard about the unicorns that were at the Battle of Bosworth Field? They were totally there, and they were sparkly. Never trust a Tudor. The unicorns are on their side.

[jadedissola]

Alexander the Great had his very own pegasus that he flew into every battle, and he looked fabulous doing so. It are fact.

[tabular_rasa]

In defense of the first quote you post, I think what she is trying to say is that the practice of keeping women confined to the domestic sphere was rooted in practical necessity related to bloodline purity as opposed to just pure abstract hatred of women. (Which I think is probably true?). In the absence of paternity tests the only way husbands felt assured of their wife's faithfulness was to prevent any other guys from getting close enough to even stand a chance. It's poor word choice because "not rooted in misogyny" makes it sound like she's saying "it's not misogynistic," but I think her point is that the reason the (misogynist) practice came to exist was based on the biological fact that women get pregnant and men don't-- as opposed to one day somebody waking up and thinking, "You know what? I hate women. Let's treat them like crap

[subluxate]

But it's still rooted in misogyny--it's basically the idea that women can't control their sexuality, so men must do it for them.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Exactly. Most misogynist attitudes aren't consciously so, and people holding them will tell you at great lengths that they "have nothing against women", and then proceed to make statements that are misogynistic, often without even realising it.

[msmcknittington]

Except misogyny isn't just "pure abstract hatred of women". It's thinking women are less than men simply because they're women. And I really don't think that all men in the past were motivated to treat women badly just because they were women, but actively anticipating that your wife will cuckold you is absolutely rooted in misogyny. Downplaying the role that misogyny plays in the fretwork of laws that governed queen consorts' actions in the past is disingenuous.

[arylla]

Oh ... oh no. That book was on my reading list, but after your post I think I'll pass. It's a damn shame, historical writing about women can be so fascinating. :/

[msmcknittington]

Do you want some other reading recommendations? My friends list came up with some more specific to some of the women she writes about when I reviewed it there, if you're interested.

And this isn't about royal women, but The Wealth of Wives by Barbara Hanawalt is about the lives of women in 14th and 15th century London, and I found it fascinating. It's not pop history, but scholarly/academic history. It's really accessibly written, though.

[drownamydrown]

If you don't mind I would love some other recommendations please!

[batty_gal]

OK, this isn't actually all that ridiculous, but it put the most ridiculous little scene in my head. I imagine the queen's lover striding through the halls of the royal palace, looking like the sparkliest Eagle Scout ever, and some newbie courtier leaning over to an old pro courtier to whisper, "What an awful lot of medals! What are they all for?" And the old pro courtier gives the lover one disparaging glance, and says, "Fucking."

Omfg lolololol I lost it here.

I actually want to read this now just to lolcringe at how bad it is. It sounds like there's more accuracy in the Rose of Versailles historical fiction manga than it is in that non-fiction book.

[msmcknittington]

That image entertained me faaaaar too much as I was reading.

It's very possible! Might be less slapping, though.