A cornerstone of Victorian erotica, centering Julian's transition into Julia and the resulting discovery of femme-queer pleasures
[Erotic Literature] [LGBTQ+] [Domination Fetish] [de Rhodes, Stanislas Matthew]
Gynecocracy. A narrative of the Adventures and Psychological Experiences of Julian Robinson (afterwards Viscount Ladywood) Under Petticoat Rule. Written by Himself (in 3 vols.)
Paris and Rotterdam: [N.P.], 1893. First Edition. Contemporary three-quarters crushed morocco over cloth, with gilt to spines and boards. Midnight blue endpapers. Measuring 175 x 110mm and collating complete including half titles to all volumes: xi, [1], 164; vi, 170; vi, 166. A square, pleasing set with a touch of rubbing to spine ends and corners. Discrete duplicate stamps to endpapers of each volume, else internally fresh and unmarked. An important novel emphasizing the power of feminine sexuality, the complexity of gender identities, and the pleasures of fetish and play, Gynecocracy is scarce institutionally and in trade. Of the listings on OCLC, only three libraries document specifically holding all three volumes; it has appeared twice at auction (in 2019 and 1973) and the present is the only example on the market.
A clandestine work of erotic fiction, Gynecocracy takes its name from the longstanding British debates about the state of a nation under a queen's governance. Indeed, the novel revels in the idea of feminine dominance, and it raises questions about who can tap into that power, when, and why.
Gynecocracy initiates with sexual experimentation from the angle of toxic patriarchal masculinity and a resulting violation of female consent. After assuming his right to the body of a maid in his parents' employ, the privileged young Julian Robinson is caught and sent away from the city for punishment at his family's country home. There, Julian is renamed Julia and put under the direction of the "beautiful and bewitching French governess, Mademoiselle de Chambonnard, who subjects him to a rigorous disciplinary regime of birching and cross-dressing" (Birchgrove). Tightly corsetted and operating under the heavy Victorian constrictions that shaped the lives of women around her, Julia also becomes deeply aware that women are not unhuman objects but also have their own interiority which they can hide or share. Desire, passion, and consent become gateways to connection and pleasure with oneself and others. "Subjected to bondage, humiliation, and corporal punishment," Julia increasingly finds her own center and discovers "the sort of liberation that can only come in the throes of sexual abandon" made possible in a space of trust (Locus Elm).
What initially seems like a retributive measure against Julian for his violation turns out to be a rehabilitative approach to justice that sets Julia free. In this sense, Gynecocracy also offers readers an example of what Kathleen Lubey has described as Victorian erotica that "rather than naturalizing a heteronormative or masculinist sensibility, turns up the volume on the genre's statements against masculine dominance" (What Pornography Knows). Gynecocracy remains a cornerstone of Victorian literary erotica, and in the past as now, it invites a wide range of readers -- but particularly femme and queer audiences -- to witness, be excited by, and learn from a range of alternative sexual scenarios rarely represented in the mainstream.
Register of Erotic Books 2084. (212)