IMC 2005: Sessions
Session 807: Constructing Femininities
Tuesday 12 July 2005, 16.30-18.00
Moderator/Chair: | Catherine Lawless, Department of History, University of Limerick |
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Paper 807-a | Dressing up?: A Re-Examination of Interpretations of Later Medieval Cross-Dressing (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Historiography - Modern Scholarship |
Paper 807-b | Virgins at War: The Magic of Virginity in a Military Context (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Sexuality, Women's Studies |
Paper 807-c | Sex in the Desert: Women's Stories in the World of Vitas patrum (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - Latin, Women's Studies |
Abstract | Abstract - a: This paper reconsiders current interpretations of later medieval cross-dressing, particularly Vern Bullough's influential arguments that female cross-dressing was tolerated, encouraged and involved gains in status. Drawing on examples both literary and actual, it argues that this was not the case and that the issues of status are more complicated than Bullough's work implies. Building on some of Claire Sponsler's ideas, the paper also argues that cross-dressing should be seen in a wider context than just gender cross-dressing. For example, cross-dressing could also include other crossings such as status, nationality and virginity. |