Which pratices were permitted, and for whom? Were such major female figures of the Empire as Messalina or Agrippina the Younger remotely representative of the daily lives of the average Roman woman? Were the Romans debauched and ready for any transgression in the name of pleasure, or did they pave the way for the norms that ruled Western sexuality for centuries?
Virginie Girod shows how women were categorized, and how their social status framed their sexual lives. Deploying considerable research, Virginie Girod sheds new light on the conditions of women in ancient Rome.