ABSTRACT
While sensitive to differences between women, Crawford has been concerned to identify where patterns or similarities occur; in essence, what women shared. Her work considers the extent to which early modern women felt a common sense of identity, seeking to identify circumstances creating commonalities, as well as divisions, between them.7 In a series of pioneering articles, for example, Crawford examined understandings and experiences of embodiment, arguing that women’s shared knowledge of sexuality and reproduction contributed to a ‘female culture’; an argument developed in her work with Sara Mendelson on women’s friendships and female forms of cultural production.8 The nature of female identities and communities, their impact on women’s experiences and agency, have thus been vital questions in
her work and are crucial issues for the essays in this collection. For the experiences of women, as in Crawford’s work, lie at the heart of this volume. 9 The collection presents the insights of historians who are concerned to document the lived realities of women, as well as exploring literary or cultural meanings of gender identities.10
