From the Great Plague to the Plague of Women: Purity, Misogyny and Female Enclosure

Steve Higginson will interpret the re-birth of misogyny by looking at the period of the Great Plague, 1345 onwards, and the great moralising discourse that swept across Europe post plaque. Located within this discourse of purity, women were viewed as both cause and effect of the plague, and were to be “enclosed” accordingly within the domestic sphere. The purity campaign against women was attributable to a re-reading of the Old Testament plus a resurgance of interest in Aristotlian ethics.

Steve hails from Liverpool and was a Union organiser in the Communication Workers Union. Now a post-graduate, Steve lectures at John Moores University. His recent projects include an examination of time, memory and movement in port cities (principally Liverpool) as co-author of Edgy Cities (2006). He has been a regular contributor of Bristol Radical Hisotry Group events.