A history of women's bodies

Bigger, smaller, fatter, thinner women's bodies have been one of the most contested sites in human history.

Men's bodies have rarely been assigned much more than a sketchy role as heroic, but women's bodies are surrounded by cultural, religious, social and political taboos and strictures. And for large stretches of history, women have had little control or power over their own bodies.

Edward Shorter explores the long history of women's oppression through their bodies and the thinking behind it.

Why did Aristotle think that women were misbegotten men and why was Sir William Blackstone in the 18th century codification of law that bears his name able to promote the view that women experience "civil death" in marriage, giving their husbands complete rights and responsibilities over their wives' bodies.

It was, argues Shorter, the end of women's physical victimization that was the precondition for feminism.