After what has begun to feel like the formulaic repetition of male reports of women in Ottoman society, Lady Mary Whortley Montagu feels like a breath of fresh air. At the same time, we should also keep in mind that her accounts are in the form of letters written to friends and contacts back in England--both men and women. To what extent might she have felt constrained by cultural taboos on what women were supposed to express in writing? Is there any indication that she might have treated the material differently depending on whether her correspondent was male or female? While male authors didn't hesitate to speak openly and negatively about sex between women, Montagu expresses very positive opinions of the women she interacted with. Might that have affected how she treated the subject of sexuality? In one letter she seems to defend Ottoman women against the suspicion of sexual activity in the baths, but in another she hints strongly at feeling (or at least acknowledging) the erotic potential of the dances women performed for each other in private.
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