"These Lusting, Incestuous, Perverse Creatures": A Phytopoetic History of Plants and Sexuality
Affiliation
Department of German Studies, University of ArizonaIssue Date
2022-11-01Keywords
gender and sexualityliterary and cultural plant studies
phytopoetics
vegetal eroticism
vegetal violence
Metadata
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Duke University PressCitation
Jacobs, J. (2022). “These Lusting, Incestuous, Perverse Creatures” A Phytopoetic History of Plants and Sexuality. Environmental Humanities, 14(3), 602-617.Journal
Environmental HumanitiesRights
© 2022 Joela Jacobs This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
This article traces the emergence of and shifts in ideas about plant sexuality in European literature from the late seventeenth century to the present, with a particular focus on influential British and a few less well-known German texts. Positioned as a specifically phytopoetic history of plants and sexuality, it demonstrates with the help of literature how plants have been shaping human culture-in this context, the sociocultural norms and understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality. Moving from vegetal visions of virtuous, virginal women-plants and their corruption by pollen and "plant prostitutes"to concerns about "crimes against nature"and the persecution ofmale same-sex desire, this history ultimately arrives at queer reproduction and pleasure as a collective endeavor. © 2022 Joela Jacobs.Note
Open access journalISSN
2201-1919Version
Final published versionScopus Count
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © 2022 Joela Jacobs This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).