Riding the black ram: law, literature, and gender

Disruptive women, with their real or imagined excesses, have long provided the material for literary and legal narratives.

This work analyses a series of texts to demonstrate the persistence of certain gender stereotypes.

In her 1820 trial for adultery Queen Caroline was depicted in a cartoon riding on a black ram that had the face of her Italian lover.

As this book reveals, a number of women, remembered largely for their insubordinate presence, have metaphorically 'ridden the black ram' in the last 700 years.

The author reveals a disquieting pattern in the representations of women, and provides a new recognition of the significance of sexuality and gender in the way we narrate our world.