Scan barcode
friends2lovers's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
The tale of the dames de voyage (“women of travel” or, more loosely, “traveling companions”), which appears in numerous contemporary accounts, claims that the very first sex dolls were rudimentary figures cobbled together out of cloth and leather scraps by European sailors on long, lonely voyages in centuries gone by.
Just for funsies, I picked a reading theme for the month of August: Nautical/Aquatic (which I am extending through September, or until I grow sick of it, because my list is now huge). Sex Dolls at Sea: Imagined Histories of Sexual Technologies randomly came up in search results while I was browsing Libby for books fitting that theme. The dames de voyage tale is not one I was familiar with, but the premise of the book—deconstructing and analyzing the history and origin of the tale—sounded intriguing so I gave it a shot.
I’m not sure how to rate or review this. I did enjoy reading the book, particularly the sleuthing parts where Ruberg traces citations, discovers omissions and misdirections, and ultimately proves that the dames de voyage tale is a constructed myth and not based on historical fact. I highlighted many, many passages and footnotes; most often because I wanted to add a book or article to my ‘further reading’ list; less often because I found the author’s insights particularly noteworthy or thought-provoking. That’s not to say the book is not well-constructed or their thesis is not well-argued. After debunking the dames de voyage myth, I would have liked Ruberg to delve into the true history of the sexuality of sailors and pirates. But, Ruberg moves on to the history of sex doll technology, which obviously aligns with the thesis of the book, but isn’t where my particular interests lie.
What readers will find here, by contrast, is not primarily a retelling of the history of the sex doll—though there is much to learn about that history in the chapters that follow. Instead, first and foremost, the present work is an interrogation of how the history of sex dolls itself has been imagined: how established narratives about that history have come into being, whom they have privileged and whom they have marginalized, how we can reimagine the history of sex dolls, and how this act of reimagining the past might itself represent a crucial step toward creating a more socially just future for sexual technologies.
Anyway, I still found the book overall interesting. The research that went into it is quite impressive and I feel like I learned some things.
The hosts of Queer as Fact: A Queer History Podcast do a lot of similar digging into sources while researching for episodes. The recently released episode on ‘Queerness in the Golden Age of Piracy’ may appeal to readers who enjoyed this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, and Slavery
Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Xenophobia
More...