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On the way, she takes in Princess Diana, anorexia, transvestism and cosmetic surgery. 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Elaborate rituals of beauty and the creation of a sensual environment are by no means a thing of the past. Today, in the most modest homes, incense is still burned to create a soothing atmosphere and guests' hands are sprinkled with rosewater as a sign of welcome. Other similar attentions continue to mark out the countries of the East for their legendary hospitality. The book also includes anecdotes by Western women who were initiated into the secrets of the steam baths and descriptions by contemporary women of customs handed down by their mothers and grandmothers. Some of these customs are now known in the West, especially henna for the hair, kohl for the eyes, and the therapeutic use of essential oils. Yet there are many other body care methods using natural substances which have great appeal today, when many women are abandoning synthetic and expensive products in favour of effective alternatives which do not harm the environment. A pot pourri of practical information and delightful stories, the book includes extracts from poetry and literature and is illustrated throughout with original sketches and drawings.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560120394001,"sku":"GOR013141325","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49605560762641,"sku":"GOR001643999","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49652595425553,"sku":"GOR004490671","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0863560814.jpg?v=1751443086"},{"product_id":"dark-venus-book-wendy-buonaventura-9781445677514","title":"Dark Venus","description":"'Dark Venus' focuses on the late 19th and early 20th century obsession with woman as femme fatale. It looks at beliefs about women's bodies and sexuality, and how men have responded to the fear and thrill of dangerous women. Among those beliefs were that women are feral creatures in need of mental and physical constraints. Dancer Maud Allan came to embody the era's dominant image of the femme fatale. In 1918 she brought a libel case against Noel Billing MP, who had accused her in print of lesbianism. It seems almost incredible now, but there was a belief in some circles that women such as Maud relished the deaths of soldiers at the front, that they found it erotically charged. And that 'New Women', by seeking male freedoms and trying to step away from their allotted role in society, were a cause of the war itself. 'She was the Marilyn Monroe of my youth,' wrote art critic Sir Herbert Read of Maud Allan. But to others, she and her kind were a sinister fifth column. Allan, fondling on stage the severed head of John the Baptist whose death she had demanded as her prize for dancing, expressed elements of sexual perversion, including sadism, necrophilia and incest, that were truly terrifying to Edwardian society. And as the author points out: 'Here we are a hundred years, later with self-harm and eating disorders rife, painful, unnecessary cosmetic surgery acceptable, and injecting poisonous botox under our skin now considered just as normal as putting on make-up.' Maud Allan's story is still relevant today. This isn't just the story of Allan but a close examination of attitudes to women in the Belle Epoque and beyond. 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Wendy Buonaventura demonstrates how Arabic dance came to be influenced by Western ideas about art and entertainment. But the influence was two-way. In the heyday of Orientalism, Arabic dance captured the imagination of writers and artists such as Flaubert, David Roberts and Jean-Leon Gerome, and imitators Colette and Mata Hari. Often based on common fantasies about Middle-Eastern women, this obsession produced evocative images and inspired fashion, theatre and popular entertainment.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49732194959633,"sku":"NGR9780863566288","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50563972432145,"sku":"GOR006303986","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0863566286.jpg?v=1751202288"},{"product_id":"serpent-of-the-nile-book-wendy-buonaventura-9780863566721","title":"Serpent of the Nile","description":"Focusing on the 19th and early 20th centuries, the author shows how Arabic dance came to be influenced by Western ideas about art and entertainment. But the influence was two-way. 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