Scholarly and thought provoking.
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Excellent book which manages to chart the sexualities and (related) jokes of the late-republic/early Roman Empire. I contrast to the arid writing style of the New Historians on the classics, this is a breath of fresh air. She also provides good counter arguments to the ideas of Foucault and neo-Foucaultians, although not without problems; for example, she thinks the 'cinaedi', a term of insult roughly translated to today's 'queer', denoted a group of 'passive homosexuals', which she thinks was a (sub)cultural group in the Roman empire (there may well have been 'gay' sub-cultures, but her idea is too reductive). Still, highly enjoyable, scholarly and recommended.
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A very interesting read.
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I found this book very interesting and thought provoking, especially after having seen photos and documentaries on some of the erotic material discovered at Pompeii and other Roman sites. My only problem was perhaps that some of the translations from Latin into American slang do not travel well for those of us who don't speak American English. However, I don't think that Amy Richlin can be blamed for attempting to make the translations come alive for her audience. I would recommend this book to anyone investigating gender and the issues of sexuality from a historical perspective.
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Canada