The Erotic in SportsIn The Erotic in Sports, Allen Guttmann illuminates a topic commonly hidden in the shadows, drawing upon literature, art, modern mass media, and traditional historical sources to describe and comment upon its importance across nearly three millennia of Western history. Investigating aesthetic ideals that romanticize the lithe, agile fencer at one historical moment and the massively muscled football player at another, surveying ancient legends and products of pop culture, Guttmann's groundbreaking work uncovers a vast array of evidence that cultures across the ages have celebrated, glorified, censured, and denied the erotic aspects of sports. |
Contents
Candor Euphemism and Denial | 1 |
HISTORICAL VICISSITUDES | 11 |
Antiquity | 15 |
From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance | 37 |
Modern Times | 49 |
THE GUISES OF EROS | 72 |
Erotic Athleticism and Popular Culture | 75 |
Eros Imagined | 91 |
Eros and Psyche | 121 |
Concluding Arguments | 145 |
Appendix A Definitions | 173 |
Notes | 181 |
Common terms and phrases
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