Sexual Life in Ottoman Society

by Sema Nilgun Erdogan

The mysterious sex life of Ottoman society has remained a taboo subject until recent years, but even now it is not truly unveiled. Beyond the facaed of convnetional relations, the sexual life of the Ottoman was surpisingly rich and colorful. This book reveals the colourful sex lives of the Ottomans, men and women, with photos and colour illustrations, and essays and poetry of the time. An enlightening and amusing read.

Genres: History

143 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kostiantyn Levin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Глянув інші відгуки, основні претензії — поганенька англійська і слабеньке дослідження. Першим мене не налякаєш, може навіть навпаки. А після того як глянув на обкладинку і відкрив пару розворотів очікувати там якогось дослідження — це треба бути людиною надзвичайно тонкої душевної організації.

Чудова, просто написана книжка про гарем султана, проституцію, норми сексуальної поведінки, танцівниць і танцівників, гомосексуалізм, роль турецьких бань в сексуальному житті, сексуальні скандали, способи флірту тощо. Все це рясно ілюстровано еротичними і не дуже картинами і гравюрами XVIII—XIX століть, переважно з османських джерел, а також перекладами уривків з текстів тематичної літератури — поради коханцям, тематичні історії, анекдоти, вірші.

Попри велику кількість друкарських помилок, хочеться спитати у всіх, хто понаставляв книзі двійки — якого ще сексуального життя в Османському суспільстві вам не вистачає?

[Ymke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is terribly written. It's also hilarious. I'll be reading this again.

[Başak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this was the way we learned history. Not learning about the wars but daily life of people.

[Antonio García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que pillos estos otomanos....

[Brittany Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time with this book, the writing is just terrible. I don't know how it was published. It's all over the place and not organized in a coherent way. It apparently draws on ottoman texts but there aren't citations for most of the information, and some of it seems like conjecture or the author's opinion. It's a shame, because if done well this could be a very interesting topic. It's also loaded with typos and poor English, making it difficult to interpret in places. It is illustrated with 18th and 19th century art which is the only nice thing about the book.

[Habeeb Akande · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Sexual Life in Ottoman Society' by Nilgun Sema Erdogan presents the colourful and taboo sex lives of Ottoman men and women.

The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim state founded in 1299 by Osman I, leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia. Some Islamic rulings on sexual behaviour was reflected in Ottoman society, others were ignored in this sexually lavish era. This book reveals the highly erotic lives of Ottoman Muslim men and women, with colour illustrations, sex manuals (Bahnâme) and love poetry of that time. The Bahnâmes were written to instruct people in sex and eroticism. They had a long history in eastern cultures. From the 15th century, the Ottomans drew upon earlier erotology works such as the Kama-Sutra and The Perfumed Garden, to compile their own culturally specific sex manuals with miniatures, aphrodisiac recipes, contraceptive methods, and recommended positions to achieve satisfaction during intercourse.

The Bahnâmes written in the 18th and 19th century were mostly on sexual techniques and erotic fantasies. Many were published in Istanbul and sold in bookstores. Some of the books included explicit images which were favoured by the rich. The book also presents some of the sex scandals which shocked Ottoman society, sex anecdotes, female beauty in the eyes of the Ottomans, the language of flirtation, and the various sexual experiences of Ottoman men and women. Ottoman society was highly sensual for wealthy men and their female partners in particular. Some argue the sex addictions of the Ottoman Sultans led to the eventual demise of the Muslim state. The book also highlights the stories of sexually confident women and pleasure-seeking Muslim women. Some served as secret lovers, others were passionate wives of the Sultans.

The promiscuous and wealthy Sultans lived lives without sexual restraint. In addition, this easy to read book presents the vivid stories of the gorgeous ladies of Istanbul, sexually dissatisfied women, chaste wives, horny prostitutes and unfaithful women in the premodern Muslim state. Sexual Life in Ottoman Society provides an interesting insight into the hedonistic sex lives of Ottoman Empire. A colourful read.

[Yunus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Das Buch ist von seiner Originalsprache Türkisch ins Deutsche übersetzt worden. Es hat den Anschein, dass die Übersetzung in vielen Stellen mit google-translate vorgenommen wurde. Einige Stellen ergeben keinen Sinn und ist folglich schwierig zu verstehen.
Trotz der vielen Illustration verdient das Buch nicht mehr als zwei Sterne. Eine Korrekturlesung ist angeheim erforderlich.

[Abdallah Waez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny book in my opinion
Show u that what we're seeing today has started long ago
Actually it also contains a lot of funny stories and topics
I've never read something like this before
When u feel like u r bored try to read it hahahahah

[Kutsua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creepy book - mainly because of the language chosen. Hard to read, even harder to understand.

[Sertaç Sehlikoglu · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poorly-written book of poor research. There are a series of mistakes as well.

[Mehdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

[Teodora Dragoi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written

[Gretchen Frey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Either poorly written or poorly translated, but some interesting information and artwork.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in an hour, couldn’t put it down

[Sarip Dol · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is ok. But I expected the book the give a more accurate historical account instead of portraying in words the situation that was. Anyway, an eccentric reading I must say.

[Sangeetha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hardly any references to what it was like. The book is more of anecdotes from different books put together. However
the poetry of gay man was interesting.