Through the keyhole : a history of sex, space and public modesty in modern France / Marcela Iacub ; translated by Vinay Swamy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Iacub, Marcela, author.

Contributor:

Swamy, Vinay, translator.

Standardized Title:

Par le trou de la serrure. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Sex and law--France--History.

Sex and law.

Indecent exposure--France--History--19th century.

Indecent exposure.

Indecent exposure--France--History--20th century.

Indecent exposure--France--History--21st century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 228 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First English-language edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

Translated from the French.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Visual liberalization of public space goes along with a penal regime that increasingly affirms its grip on the individual's sexuality. In 1857, a group of young people who had participated in an orgy in a private mansion was sentenced for contempt of public decency because a voyeur was able to watch them through a keyhole. Today, the term pudeur has disappeared from the French penal code to be replaced by Sex. This book demonstrates that the transformation techniques used by the State in the last two centuries have rendered sexuality into a spectacle and have conditioned our spaces, our clothes, our comportment and even some of our mental illnesses. In so doing, it offers a politico-legal history of the gaze. The law contained in Article 330 of the Penal Code of 1810 had the unique characteristic of appearing exogenous to the juridical order that had invented it. In the logic of Article 330 it was important to discern whether this act took place on the right or the wrong side of the wall of modesty. Liability and publicity were two elements that overlapped when it came to private spaces. Despite everything, the possibility of taking precautions to limit visibility and accessibility of the private spaces differentiated them from public space by nature, such as streets. Interior publicity indirectly created new rules for sex, the effects of which are still detectable throughout the law. The book also discusses chaste nudity, live nudity, unchaste sexuality, and sexual exhibitionism.

Contents:

Part I: Constructing and demolishing the wall of modesty

Part II: The visual liberation of public spaces

Part III: The politics of spaces in the era of Sex.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Apr 2026).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-218) and index.

ISBN:

9781784998110

1784998117

9781784997670

1784997676

OCLC:

967368072