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IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 1324: Representing the Sexuality of Women in Medieval Europe and Byzantium

Wednesday 14 July 2010, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:International Center for Medieval Art
Organiser:Mati Meyer, Department of Literature, Language & Arts, Open University of Israel, Raanana
Moderator/Chair:Sherry C. M. Lindquist, Knox College, Illinois
Paper 1324-aFemale Sexuality and its Displacements in Medieval Western Art
(Language: English)
Sarah Salih, Department of English Language & Literature, King's College London
Index terms: Art History - General, Sexuality, Women's Studies
Paper 1324-bFemale Sexuality in Jewish Medieval Art: The Case of an Illustrated Liturgical Poem for Hanukkah
(Language: English)
Sarit Shalev-Eyni, Department of Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Index terms: Art History - General, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Sexuality
Paper 1324-cEthical Reflections on Female Sexuality as Seen through Byzantine Secular Art
(Language: English)
Alicia Walker, Department of Art History & Archaeology, Washington University in St Louis
Index terms: Art History - General, Gender Studies, Sexuality, Women's Studies
Abstract

Because images of sexuality have significant real-world consequences for women in patriarchal cultures, it is urgent that we have recourse to relevant historical perspectives. The papers in this session consider how the visual operated to reflect, construct, or subvert normative attitudes about women's sexuality in medieval Europe inside and outside of Latin Christianity. This session offers a comparative, synthetic, and interdisciplinary approach to the intersection of sex and images in the Middle Ages, especially as it pertains to the lived experience of medieval women.