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In this era, women were often beaten and abused at home by husbands exercising their legal right and were whipped, branded, exiled and burned alive by the courts. This extraordinary work records the many kinds of violent physical and verbal abuse perpetrated against women in Britain and her colonies and their treatment at the hands of the patriarchy. This distressing and fascinating read catalogues sexual violence, libel and slander, clandestine marriages and abductions, women sent to prison for minor misdemeanours including cross dressing, held in disgusting conditions, publicly whipped in front of a crowd who attended for erotic satisfaction - and not just the men. Women were subject to ducking in the village pond or river, and Quakers had a particularly bad time at the hands of the legally sanctioned religious fanatics. The worst legal punishment for women was execution by burning which was replaced by hanging under the notorious Bloody Code, punishment far greater than for guilty men who would be hung. There are details on specific cases and a list of whipping offences in Jamaica from 1858 and in the 20 chapters, Pimm explains a little about witchcraft but a lot about his sources including some surprising perpetrators of misogyny such as James Boswell, Jonathan Swift and especially Samuel Pepys. There were many instances of him recounting how he would beat his wife and female servants and violence against women he encountered going about the streets of London. It was an era when girls were largely barred from education and few women who were educated were permitted to enter professions. The social turbulence of the first half of the 17th century afforded women new opportunities and freedoms. Sects were established that offered a voice to women in the roles of preaching and teaching and many women saw no reason that they shouldn't voice their opinions alongside men, publishing their own books and pamphlets. But these new and unprecedented liberties were perceived as a threat by the leaders of society, and thus arose an unlikely masculine alliance against the new feminine assertions. This reaction resulted in the brutal treatment of women who were seen to have stepped out of line whether legally, socially or domestically. 196pp in large softback, illus.