John Bryce Jordan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
John Bryce Jordan proposes that the linkage between the male dancer and the stigma of effeminacy began in the early 18th century, rather than in the 19th century, as other dance writers and scholars ...
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John Bryce Jordan proposes that the linkage between the male dancer and the stigma of effeminacy began in the early 18th century, rather than in the 19th century, as other dance writers and scholars have proposed. Through an analysis of writings in the Spectator, one of the first modern English‐language periodicals (London, 1711–41), Jordan demonstrates how concepts related to masculinity emerged through satire and social commentary, illuminating period understandings of dance as a socially meaningful, gendered practice. Characters who are deemed “problem men” are critiqued by “Mr. Spectator” for wardrobe, manners, and style of country dancing, and include Mr. Shapley, the “beau” (a woman's man, such as Dick Crastin and Tom Tulip), John Trott, Mr. Fanfly, and Mr. Prim. Rather than a marginal activity, dance is shown to be a prominent site for the performance of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors for men in early 18th‐century England.Less
John Bryce Jordan proposes that the linkage between the male dancer and the stigma of effeminacy began in the early 18th century, rather than in the 19th century, as other dance writers and scholars have proposed. Through an analysis of writings in the Spectator, one of the first modern English‐language periodicals (London, 1711–41), Jordan demonstrates how concepts related to masculinity emerged through satire and social commentary, illuminating period understandings of dance as a socially meaningful, gendered practice. Characters who are deemed “problem men” are critiqued by “Mr. Spectator” for wardrobe, manners, and style of country dancing, and include Mr. Shapley, the “beau” (a woman's man, such as Dick Crastin and Tom Tulip), John Trott, Mr. Fanfly, and Mr. Prim. Rather than a marginal activity, dance is shown to be a prominent site for the performance of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors for men in early 18th‐century England.
Christopher Fletcher
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199546916
- eISBN:
- 9780191720826
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546916.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Richard II (1377-99) has long suffered from an unusually unmanly reputation. He has been associated with lavish courtly expenditure, absolutist ideas, Francophile tendencies, and a love of peace ...
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Richard II (1377-99) has long suffered from an unusually unmanly reputation. He has been associated with lavish courtly expenditure, absolutist ideas, Francophile tendencies, and a love of peace habitually linked to the king's physical effeminacy. Even sympathetic accounts of his reign have only dismissed particular facets of this picture, or reinterpreted it as yielding evidence of praiseworthy dissent from accepted norms of masculinity. This book takes a different tack. It does so by putting the politics of Richard's reign back in the context of contemporary assumptions about the nature of manhood and youth. This makes it possible not only to understand the agenda behind the attacks of the king's critics, but also to suggest a new account of his actions. It is argued that Richard tried to establish his manhood (and hence authority to rule) by thoroughly conventional means. The inability of his subjects to support this aspiration produced a sequence of conflicts with the king, in which Richard's opponents found it convenient to ascribe to him the faults of youth. These critiques derived their force not from the king's real personality but from the fit between certain contemporary assumptions about youth, effeminacy, and masculinity on the one hand, and the actions of Richard's government — constrained by difficult and complex circumstances — on the other. This book thus uses an inquiry into contemporary concepts of manhood and youth to understand not only the role they played in providing useful rhetorical strategies, but also in structuring the priorities of political actors.Less
Richard II (1377-99) has long suffered from an unusually unmanly reputation. He has been associated with lavish courtly expenditure, absolutist ideas, Francophile tendencies, and a love of peace habitually linked to the king's physical effeminacy. Even sympathetic accounts of his reign have only dismissed particular facets of this picture, or reinterpreted it as yielding evidence of praiseworthy dissent from accepted norms of masculinity. This book takes a different tack. It does so by putting the politics of Richard's reign back in the context of contemporary assumptions about the nature of manhood and youth. This makes it possible not only to understand the agenda behind the attacks of the king's critics, but also to suggest a new account of his actions. It is argued that Richard tried to establish his manhood (and hence authority to rule) by thoroughly conventional means. The inability of his subjects to support this aspiration produced a sequence of conflicts with the king, in which Richard's opponents found it convenient to ascribe to him the faults of youth. These critiques derived their force not from the king's real personality but from the fit between certain contemporary assumptions about youth, effeminacy, and masculinity on the one hand, and the actions of Richard's government — constrained by difficult and complex circumstances — on the other. This book thus uses an inquiry into contemporary concepts of manhood and youth to understand not only the role they played in providing useful rhetorical strategies, but also in structuring the priorities of political actors.
Cornelia Pearsall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195150544
- eISBN:
- 9780199871124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195150544.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter examines “Tithonus” in the context of Tennyson’s “Oenone,” and of his early poems representing Tithonus’s son, Memnon. In studying the phenomenon of masculine beauty in a cluster of ...
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This chapter examines “Tithonus” in the context of Tennyson’s “Oenone,” and of his early poems representing Tithonus’s son, Memnon. In studying the phenomenon of masculine beauty in a cluster of related poems of Tennyson’s, Chapter Five also explores the problem of beauty in Tennyson’s poetics. Section one, “Trojan Aesthetics,” examines some of Tithonus’s familial, social, and literary contexts and their implications for Tennyson’s own poetic practice. Drawing on Arthur Henry Hallam’s conception of “sympathy,” as well as a range of Victorian aesthetic, poetic, and psycho-sexual theories (including Havelock Ellis’s theory of “eonism”), this chapter’s second section, “The Rapture of Tiresias,” explores the nature of identification and similitude in Tennyson’s dramatic monologue. Pearsall responds to the critical tradition of dismissing Tennyson’s poetry as “effeminate” and “ornamental,” suggesting that, through Tithonus’s efficacious speech, Tennyson demonstrates the utility of beauty.Less
This chapter examines “Tithonus” in the context of Tennyson’s “Oenone,” and of his early poems representing Tithonus’s son, Memnon. In studying the phenomenon of masculine beauty in a cluster of related poems of Tennyson’s, Chapter Five also explores the problem of beauty in Tennyson’s poetics. Section one, “Trojan Aesthetics,” examines some of Tithonus’s familial, social, and literary contexts and their implications for Tennyson’s own poetic practice. Drawing on Arthur Henry Hallam’s conception of “sympathy,” as well as a range of Victorian aesthetic, poetic, and psycho-sexual theories (including Havelock Ellis’s theory of “eonism”), this chapter’s second section, “The Rapture of Tiresias,” explores the nature of identification and similitude in Tennyson’s dramatic monologue. Pearsall responds to the critical tradition of dismissing Tennyson’s poetry as “effeminate” and “ornamental,” suggesting that, through Tithonus’s efficacious speech, Tennyson demonstrates the utility of beauty.
Judith Lieu
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199262892
- eISBN:
- 9780191602818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262896.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The construction of masculinity and of woman as ‘the other’ are integral to an idealized self-identity in the ancient world. These take a distinctive form in Jewish writings when combined with ...
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The construction of masculinity and of woman as ‘the other’ are integral to an idealized self-identity in the ancient world. These take a distinctive form in Jewish writings when combined with Biblical images of sexual immorality and anxieties about intermarriage. Despite the emphasis on the body in the incarnation, many early Christian writings continue this pattern, combined with Graeco-Roman anxieties about the body. Although some have found traces of a greater egalitarianism in early Christianity, a developing ascetical tradition reflects a conviction of the importance of the body as a site of identity but a widespread ambiguity about its expression.Less
The construction of masculinity and of woman as ‘the other’ are integral to an idealized self-identity in the ancient world. These take a distinctive form in Jewish writings when combined with Biblical images of sexual immorality and anxieties about intermarriage. Despite the emphasis on the body in the incarnation, many early Christian writings continue this pattern, combined with Graeco-Roman anxieties about the body. Although some have found traces of a greater egalitarianism in early Christianity, a developing ascetical tradition reflects a conviction of the importance of the body as a site of identity but a widespread ambiguity about its expression.
Jun Lei
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9789888528745
- eISBN:
- 9789888754540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528745.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
The crisis of masculinity surfaced and converged with the crisis of the nation in the late Qing, after the doors of China were forced open by Opium Wars. The power of physical aggression increasingly ...
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The crisis of masculinity surfaced and converged with the crisis of the nation in the late Qing, after the doors of China were forced open by Opium Wars. The power of physical aggression increasingly overshadowed literary attainments and became new imperative of male honor in the late Qing and early Republican China. Afflicted with anxiety and indignation about their increasingly effeminate image as perceived by Western colonial powers, Chinese intellectuals strategically distanced themselves from the old literati and reassessed their positions vis-à-vis violence. In Mastery of Words and Swords: Negotiating Intellectual Masculinities in Modern China, 1890s–1930s, Jun Lei explores the formation and evolution of modern Chinese intellectual masculinities as constituted in racial, gender, and class discourses mediated by the West and Japan. This book brings to light a new area of interest in the “Man Question” within gender studies in which women have typically been the focus. To fully reveal the evolving masculine models of a “scholar-warrior,” this book employs an innovative methodology that combines theoretical vigor, the strengths of archival research, and analysis of literary texts and visuals. Situating the changing inter- and intra-gender relations in modern Chinese history and Chinese literary and cultural modernism, the book engages critically with male subjectivity in relation to other pivotal issues such as semi-coloniality, psychoanalysis, modern love, feminism, and urbanization.Less
The crisis of masculinity surfaced and converged with the crisis of the nation in the late Qing, after the doors of China were forced open by Opium Wars. The power of physical aggression increasingly overshadowed literary attainments and became new imperative of male honor in the late Qing and early Republican China. Afflicted with anxiety and indignation about their increasingly effeminate image as perceived by Western colonial powers, Chinese intellectuals strategically distanced themselves from the old literati and reassessed their positions vis-à-vis violence. In Mastery of Words and Swords: Negotiating Intellectual Masculinities in Modern China, 1890s–1930s, Jun Lei explores the formation and evolution of modern Chinese intellectual masculinities as constituted in racial, gender, and class discourses mediated by the West and Japan. This book brings to light a new area of interest in the “Man Question” within gender studies in which women have typically been the focus. To fully reveal the evolving masculine models of a “scholar-warrior,” this book employs an innovative methodology that combines theoretical vigor, the strengths of archival research, and analysis of literary texts and visuals. Situating the changing inter- and intra-gender relations in modern Chinese history and Chinese literary and cultural modernism, the book engages critically with male subjectivity in relation to other pivotal issues such as semi-coloniality, psychoanalysis, modern love, feminism, and urbanization.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558155
- eISBN:
- 9780191721342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558155.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
This chapter begins by reviewing a limited amount of evidence which suggests that the Anglo‐Saxons may have had a less well‐developed concept of ergi, and concludes that, even given the paucity of ...
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This chapter begins by reviewing a limited amount of evidence which suggests that the Anglo‐Saxons may have had a less well‐developed concept of ergi, and concludes that, even given the paucity of what material has survived, it is nevertheless probable that the Anglo‐Saxon assumption in secular circles was that it was normal to be the insertive partner in sex with both men and women but that passivity and effeminacy were strongly stigmatized. Noting the problems of correctly interpreting the significance of legal and ecclesiastical texts as evidence for the incidence of contemporary same‐sex acts and attitudes to them, this chapter emphasizes the fact that there are no extant secular legal penalties from Germanic societies, including Anglo‐Saxon England. It assesses the evidence of the Anglo‐Saxon penitentials, which penalize a range of same‐sex acts, and discusses the obscure term bædling and its implications for the concept of a distinct Anglo‐Saxon sexual identity.Less
This chapter begins by reviewing a limited amount of evidence which suggests that the Anglo‐Saxons may have had a less well‐developed concept of ergi, and concludes that, even given the paucity of what material has survived, it is nevertheless probable that the Anglo‐Saxon assumption in secular circles was that it was normal to be the insertive partner in sex with both men and women but that passivity and effeminacy were strongly stigmatized. Noting the problems of correctly interpreting the significance of legal and ecclesiastical texts as evidence for the incidence of contemporary same‐sex acts and attitudes to them, this chapter emphasizes the fact that there are no extant secular legal penalties from Germanic societies, including Anglo‐Saxon England. It assesses the evidence of the Anglo‐Saxon penitentials, which penalize a range of same‐sex acts, and discusses the obscure term bædling and its implications for the concept of a distinct Anglo‐Saxon sexual identity.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558155
- eISBN:
- 9780191721342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558155.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
Chapter 7 focuses on the construction of homosocial bonds, looking first at heroic male relations in Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon. It argues that the Beowulf‐poet here as in other matters remains ...
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Chapter 7 focuses on the construction of homosocial bonds, looking first at heroic male relations in Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon. It argues that the Beowulf‐poet here as in other matters remains ambivalent, but that the Maldon‐poet opposes what he sees as correct homosocial bonds to a cowardice stigmatized by associations with effeminacy and sexual passivity. It then contrasts the radical revaluation of masculinity and heroic passivity in The Dream of the Rood, paving the way for the later chapters' further analyses of vernacular religious texts which re‐envision gender roles and homosocial bonds.Less
Chapter 7 focuses on the construction of homosocial bonds, looking first at heroic male relations in Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon. It argues that the Beowulf‐poet here as in other matters remains ambivalent, but that the Maldon‐poet opposes what he sees as correct homosocial bonds to a cowardice stigmatized by associations with effeminacy and sexual passivity. It then contrasts the radical revaluation of masculinity and heroic passivity in The Dream of the Rood, paving the way for the later chapters' further analyses of vernacular religious texts which re‐envision gender roles and homosocial bonds.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199654307
- eISBN:
- 9780191742071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654307.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between ...
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As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between Edda and saga, and the use of the former by one saga author in connection with the dynamic he explores. In this dynamic, as we shall see, familial (and particularly sibling) relationships are pitted against (and violently implicated in) sexual ones. Of all the family sagas, Gísla saga makes most striking use of Eddaic motifs, particularly regarding the symbolic role of the Eddaic heroine Guðrún Giúkadóttir to represent the old way of vengeance. In Gísla saga this use of and relation to the past is bound up with the network of sexual themes which runs through the text, and the discussion focuses particularly on the concepts of níð, or the imputation of stigmatized effeminacy, and phallic aggression.Less
As a means of transition from the analysis of primarily Eddaic material to the textual dynamic of the sagas, this chapter takes a single saga as the basis for an analysis of the relationship between Edda and saga, and the use of the former by one saga author in connection with the dynamic he explores. In this dynamic, as we shall see, familial (and particularly sibling) relationships are pitted against (and violently implicated in) sexual ones. Of all the family sagas, Gísla saga makes most striking use of Eddaic motifs, particularly regarding the symbolic role of the Eddaic heroine Guðrún Giúkadóttir to represent the old way of vengeance. In Gísla saga this use of and relation to the past is bound up with the network of sexual themes which runs through the text, and the discussion focuses particularly on the concepts of níð, or the imputation of stigmatized effeminacy, and phallic aggression.
Meriel Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199570089
- eISBN:
- 9780191738760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570089.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
without jeopardizing his masculinity. Masculinity is constructed in opposition to effeminacy, a discourse connected to pederastic ideology and to the sexual behaviours of moicheia (adultery) and ...
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without jeopardizing his masculinity. Masculinity is constructed in opposition to effeminacy, a discourse connected to pederastic ideology and to the sexual behaviours of moicheia (adultery) and kinaideia (lewdness, including passivity); that discourse is represented by Gnathon and Thersander, but also by Cleitophon’s adultery and transvestism. The chapter argues that Xenophon and Longus should be viewed as part of the imperial debate on the merits of love of women and love of boys, and that alongside Achilles Tatius, Xenophon should be seen as a subverter of certain ideologies of sexual masculinity; he even seems to advocate, through the figure of Hippothous, a long-term, mutual same-sex love.Less
without jeopardizing his masculinity. Masculinity is constructed in opposition to effeminacy, a discourse connected to pederastic ideology and to the sexual behaviours of moicheia (adultery) and kinaideia (lewdness, including passivity); that discourse is represented by Gnathon and Thersander, but also by Cleitophon’s adultery and transvestism. The chapter argues that Xenophon and Longus should be viewed as part of the imperial debate on the merits of love of women and love of boys, and that alongside Achilles Tatius, Xenophon should be seen as a subverter of certain ideologies of sexual masculinity; he even seems to advocate, through the figure of Hippothous, a long-term, mutual same-sex love.
Hugh Cunningham
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781526146380
- eISBN:
- 9781526152077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7765/9781526146397.00014
- Subject:
- History, Social History
In this period philanthropy stood highest in esteem. The Times moderated its stance. Newspapers praised Britain as a philanthropic nation. People wrote of their government as philanthropic in its ...
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In this period philanthropy stood highest in esteem. The Times moderated its stance. Newspapers praised Britain as a philanthropic nation. People wrote of their government as philanthropic in its foreign policy. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert devoted time and resources to much-praised philanthropy. But there were worries. The Social Science Association, with which philanthropy was at first closely aligned, distanced itself from it and became the voice for social reform. The Charity Organisation Society promoted scientific charity; its secretary, C. S. Loch, did not disguise his mistrust of philanthropy. Criticism was still unrelenting: ‘practical philanthropy’ was admired, but too much of it, according to the critics, was ‘spurious’ or ‘pseudo’. In 5% philanthropy there was an attempt to help resolve housing problems but it came to be seen as a failure. Philanthropy was associated with the multiplicity of voluntary organisations to help the needy but they had spawned a body of ‘professional philanthropists’, who ran these organisations and were subjected to ridicule and dislike. Effeminacy became even more linked to philanthropy. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, three books by the era’s most eminent novelists had philanthropy directly in their sights: Middlemarch, The Moonstone and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.Less
In this period philanthropy stood highest in esteem. The Times moderated its stance. Newspapers praised Britain as a philanthropic nation. People wrote of their government as philanthropic in its foreign policy. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert devoted time and resources to much-praised philanthropy. But there were worries. The Social Science Association, with which philanthropy was at first closely aligned, distanced itself from it and became the voice for social reform. The Charity Organisation Society promoted scientific charity; its secretary, C. S. Loch, did not disguise his mistrust of philanthropy. Criticism was still unrelenting: ‘practical philanthropy’ was admired, but too much of it, according to the critics, was ‘spurious’ or ‘pseudo’. In 5% philanthropy there was an attempt to help resolve housing problems but it came to be seen as a failure. Philanthropy was associated with the multiplicity of voluntary organisations to help the needy but they had spawned a body of ‘professional philanthropists’, who ran these organisations and were subjected to ridicule and dislike. Effeminacy became even more linked to philanthropy. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, three books by the era’s most eminent novelists had philanthropy directly in their sights: Middlemarch, The Moonstone and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Heather Martel
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813066189
- eISBN:
- 9780813058399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813066189.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
In the early Atlantic Protestant gendered hierarchy of beauty and power, political, social, spiritual, and imperial relationships were eroticized, and desire signaled effeminacy defined by ...
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In the early Atlantic Protestant gendered hierarchy of beauty and power, political, social, spiritual, and imperial relationships were eroticized, and desire signaled effeminacy defined by recognition of power, influence, and the more virtuous, masculine body. The French Calvinists had hoped the Indigenous kings Saturiwa, Outina, and Houstaqua would recognize their beauty, fall in love, and so willingly subordinate themselves, coming to emulate Protestantism and French culture in a normative form of homoeroticism. Instead, critics of the French at Fort Caroline implied that the slippages of some Christian travelers (who lost control to their desires, became dependent on Indigenous hospitality, and sometimes assimilated into Indigenous societies) became idolatrous, which was akin to committing sodomy and amounting to sexual slavery.Less
In the early Atlantic Protestant gendered hierarchy of beauty and power, political, social, spiritual, and imperial relationships were eroticized, and desire signaled effeminacy defined by recognition of power, influence, and the more virtuous, masculine body. The French Calvinists had hoped the Indigenous kings Saturiwa, Outina, and Houstaqua would recognize their beauty, fall in love, and so willingly subordinate themselves, coming to emulate Protestantism and French culture in a normative form of homoeroticism. Instead, critics of the French at Fort Caroline implied that the slippages of some Christian travelers (who lost control to their desires, became dependent on Indigenous hospitality, and sometimes assimilated into Indigenous societies) became idolatrous, which was akin to committing sodomy and amounting to sexual slavery.
Michael Jameson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748613199
- eISBN:
- 9780748651016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748613199.003.0018
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Dionysus was, of all gods, the most closely associated with the phallus, the erect male member, at once the instrument and symbol of male sexuality. His myths and cults also refer to the liberation, ...
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Dionysus was, of all gods, the most closely associated with the phallus, the erect male member, at once the instrument and symbol of male sexuality. His myths and cults also refer to the liberation, if only temporary, of both women and men from social controls, including sexual controls, which in most cultures are among the most rigid. The god himself is represented to a surprising degree as detached and unconcerned with sex. One can refer to Dionysus's detachment as ‘asexuality’, but one might also speak of his bisexuality, the coexistence of elements of both genders that may, in effect, cancel each other out, or even of his transcendence of sexuality. There are frequent references to his effeminacy, such as Aeschylus's lost play Edoni. Is this paradox, the effeminate god of the phallus, the phallic god of women, illusory, trivial or quite central to the conception of the god and the nature of his cults? The subject can be examined under, roughly, three headings: iconography, myth and cult.Less
Dionysus was, of all gods, the most closely associated with the phallus, the erect male member, at once the instrument and symbol of male sexuality. His myths and cults also refer to the liberation, if only temporary, of both women and men from social controls, including sexual controls, which in most cultures are among the most rigid. The god himself is represented to a surprising degree as detached and unconcerned with sex. One can refer to Dionysus's detachment as ‘asexuality’, but one might also speak of his bisexuality, the coexistence of elements of both genders that may, in effect, cancel each other out, or even of his transcendence of sexuality. There are frequent references to his effeminacy, such as Aeschylus's lost play Edoni. Is this paradox, the effeminate god of the phallus, the phallic god of women, illusory, trivial or quite central to the conception of the god and the nature of his cults? The subject can be examined under, roughly, three headings: iconography, myth and cult.
Daniel Hurewitz
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520249257
- eISBN:
- 9780520941694
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520249257.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
As Julian Eltinge settled into Edendale and the new phase of his career in the 1910s, he quickly found himself at the center of flurry of activity. Movie-making was a busy business. It was estimated ...
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As Julian Eltinge settled into Edendale and the new phase of his career in the 1910s, he quickly found himself at the center of flurry of activity. Movie-making was a busy business. It was estimated that during this period, film industries in and around Los Angeles were already spending more than thirty million dollars a year. It was Eltinge’s specialty to play challenging roles. This chapter discusses the quest for identity, and focuses on the relationship between sexual desire and identity, particularly gender identity. It seeks to answer whether gendered behavior is an expression of sexual desire—that is, whether men who dress as women in fact desire other men. These concerns are reflections of the questions that began to circulate in Eltinge’s Los Angeles. However, dthe 1910s, ’20s, and early ’30s lacked a single governing paradigm for explaining sexual desire and sexual behavior. Instead, multiple paradigms prevailed; Eltinge’s offered no answers. For a time, that did not matter. Hollywood was still happy to put Eltinge on screen as a female impersonator. However, the demand for authenticity and interest in desire intensified. In part, the fairy paradigm gained wider popularity. While audiences laughed at male effeminacy, they began to believe that the hidden truth of male effeminacy was homosexuality.Less
As Julian Eltinge settled into Edendale and the new phase of his career in the 1910s, he quickly found himself at the center of flurry of activity. Movie-making was a busy business. It was estimated that during this period, film industries in and around Los Angeles were already spending more than thirty million dollars a year. It was Eltinge’s specialty to play challenging roles. This chapter discusses the quest for identity, and focuses on the relationship between sexual desire and identity, particularly gender identity. It seeks to answer whether gendered behavior is an expression of sexual desire—that is, whether men who dress as women in fact desire other men. These concerns are reflections of the questions that began to circulate in Eltinge’s Los Angeles. However, dthe 1910s, ’20s, and early ’30s lacked a single governing paradigm for explaining sexual desire and sexual behavior. Instead, multiple paradigms prevailed; Eltinge’s offered no answers. For a time, that did not matter. Hollywood was still happy to put Eltinge on screen as a female impersonator. However, the demand for authenticity and interest in desire intensified. In part, the fairy paradigm gained wider popularity. While audiences laughed at male effeminacy, they began to believe that the hidden truth of male effeminacy was homosexuality.
John Potvin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781526134790
- eISBN:
- 9781526158284
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7765/9781526134806.00008
- Subject:
- Art, Design
This chapter explores, to borrow from Marcel Mauss, ‘the techniques of the body’, specificallythe different ways male bodies suggested silhouettes through movement and crystalised the debates that ...
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This chapter explores, to borrow from Marcel Mauss, ‘the techniques of the body’, specificallythe different ways male bodies suggested silhouettes through movement and crystalised the debates that raged around masculinity (re)establishing the iconic pairing of ephebic and virile types reproduced extensively in various media. In their own unique ways, the two types represented the divergence of the art deco aesthetic not as mere rivals but as integral to post-war consumerist rehabilitation. Through a sustained discussion of effeminacy, muscles and physicality in selective examples, the chapter interrogates the complicated and often fraught relationship between athletics/aesthetics and effeminacy/muscularity as expressions of a tension, overlap, contradistinction and synthesis wherein the post-war cultures of decorative masculinity resided and flourished. The entry point is purposefully varied: tailored fashion and form, the decorative gestures of boxing and physique culture, the rhythmic acting of Jaque Catelain and, finally, the exotic posesplastiques of ballet dancer Jean Börlin. Catelain and Börlin were protean queer celebrity figures whose identities vacillated between effeminacy and physical prowess. The chapter also challenges the effeminophobia that remains endemic to the historiography of the period and compels us to rethink the steadfast conceptualisation of masculinity as either only virile or only effeminate.Less
This chapter explores, to borrow from Marcel Mauss, ‘the techniques of the body’, specificallythe different ways male bodies suggested silhouettes through movement and crystalised the debates that raged around masculinity (re)establishing the iconic pairing of ephebic and virile types reproduced extensively in various media. In their own unique ways, the two types represented the divergence of the art deco aesthetic not as mere rivals but as integral to post-war consumerist rehabilitation. Through a sustained discussion of effeminacy, muscles and physicality in selective examples, the chapter interrogates the complicated and often fraught relationship between athletics/aesthetics and effeminacy/muscularity as expressions of a tension, overlap, contradistinction and synthesis wherein the post-war cultures of decorative masculinity resided and flourished. The entry point is purposefully varied: tailored fashion and form, the decorative gestures of boxing and physique culture, the rhythmic acting of Jaque Catelain and, finally, the exotic posesplastiques of ballet dancer Jean Börlin. Catelain and Börlin were protean queer celebrity figures whose identities vacillated between effeminacy and physical prowess. The chapter also challenges the effeminophobia that remains endemic to the historiography of the period and compels us to rethink the steadfast conceptualisation of masculinity as either only virile or only effeminate.
Austin Briggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034027
- eISBN:
- 9780813038162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034027.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter examines a persistent vein of imagery in James Joyce's Ulysses which cross-associates Bloom with stereotypical properties of Jewishness, particularly those of effeminacy and the peculiar ...
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This chapter examines a persistent vein of imagery in James Joyce's Ulysses which cross-associates Bloom with stereotypical properties of Jewishness, particularly those of effeminacy and the peculiar slur of male menstruation. Moreover, the panoply of racist stigmas, as the chapter deftly shows, is inherently contradictory because it simultaneously casts Jews as vengeful and bloodthirsty and as timorous and emasculated. Ultimately, Joyce references and counterpoints the lurid denigrations of anti-Semitism and the discourses of masculinism and athleticism espoused by Irish nationalists such as Michael Cusack and Patrick Pearse in order to refute them. This chapter argues that the unmanliness and pacifism of Stephen and especially of Bloom act as a pointed counter to political ideologies that aggrandize violence and aggression.Less
This chapter examines a persistent vein of imagery in James Joyce's Ulysses which cross-associates Bloom with stereotypical properties of Jewishness, particularly those of effeminacy and the peculiar slur of male menstruation. Moreover, the panoply of racist stigmas, as the chapter deftly shows, is inherently contradictory because it simultaneously casts Jews as vengeful and bloodthirsty and as timorous and emasculated. Ultimately, Joyce references and counterpoints the lurid denigrations of anti-Semitism and the discourses of masculinism and athleticism espoused by Irish nationalists such as Michael Cusack and Patrick Pearse in order to refute them. This chapter argues that the unmanliness and pacifism of Stephen and especially of Bloom act as a pointed counter to political ideologies that aggrandize violence and aggression.
Lawrence Kramer
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241732
- eISBN:
- 9780520940840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241732.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Modernization theory threatened the prevalent social order, a key marker of which was the established inequality between the sexes. The resultant nascent feminism and effeminacy, often associated ...
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Modernization theory threatened the prevalent social order, a key marker of which was the established inequality between the sexes. The resultant nascent feminism and effeminacy, often associated with degeneration or exoticism, became the focus of both science and art. Richard Strauss' opera Salome, reflecting a curious obsession to project the misogynist imagery of the age, pervaded the psyche of a large swathe of the European art force. This chapter seeks to trace the genesis of this obsession. Two elements inform the solution to this problem: feminity, and modernity and technology. Salome represents the extreme feminine fear psychosis of the era, the artistic manifestation of which finds expression in projected fetishism and castration. The earliest important Salome narratives, by Flaubert and Huysmans, establish a fundamental, mutually antithetical two-part pattern—the first part culminates in Salome's dance before Herod; the second dramatizes her relationship to the severed head of John the Baptist.Less
Modernization theory threatened the prevalent social order, a key marker of which was the established inequality between the sexes. The resultant nascent feminism and effeminacy, often associated with degeneration or exoticism, became the focus of both science and art. Richard Strauss' opera Salome, reflecting a curious obsession to project the misogynist imagery of the age, pervaded the psyche of a large swathe of the European art force. This chapter seeks to trace the genesis of this obsession. Two elements inform the solution to this problem: feminity, and modernity and technology. Salome represents the extreme feminine fear psychosis of the era, the artistic manifestation of which finds expression in projected fetishism and castration. The earliest important Salome narratives, by Flaubert and Huysmans, establish a fundamental, mutually antithetical two-part pattern—the first part culminates in Salome's dance before Herod; the second dramatizes her relationship to the severed head of John the Baptist.
Magdalena Wong
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9789888528424
- eISBN:
- 9789882203570
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528424.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, ...
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The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, rather than the usual accounts of hard work and academic success in related Chinese literature. The boys' perceived docile and unmanly characters concern their parents, but the boys choose to exercise their agency to develop alternative masculinities, including interpreting androgyny and effeminacy as desirable male models, rather than conforming to the hegemonic ideal. The one-child policy and volatility created by the countrywide rural-to-urban labour migration are identified as affecting the lives of boys in 21st century China and leading, amongst other things, to large numbers of left behind children and only sons.Less
The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, rather than the usual accounts of hard work and academic success in related Chinese literature. The boys' perceived docile and unmanly characters concern their parents, but the boys choose to exercise their agency to develop alternative masculinities, including interpreting androgyny and effeminacy as desirable male models, rather than conforming to the hegemonic ideal. The one-child policy and volatility created by the countrywide rural-to-urban labour migration are identified as affecting the lives of boys in 21st century China and leading, amongst other things, to large numbers of left behind children and only sons.
Jeffrey Meek
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474403894
- eISBN:
- 9781474430951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474403894.003.0013
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter examines the emergence of a distinct and subversive ‘queer’ man in inter-war Scotland. The attitudes of the police and courts appear to have been shaped by the identities assumed by the ...
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This chapter examines the emergence of a distinct and subversive ‘queer’ man in inter-war Scotland. The attitudes of the police and courts appear to have been shaped by the identities assumed by the men that used the nation’s urban spaces for soliciting sex, for pleasure or for money. The effeminate homosexual, in particular the male prostitute, was marked out by his failure to perform expected norms of masculinity, and his deviance was perceived to be inscribed upon his body. Attitudes towards the effeminate homosexual continued in the post-war period and such men were the continued subject of scrutiny and derision from wider society and from homosexual men, the latter group perceiving effeminacy to be a discreditable form of homosexual identityLess
This chapter examines the emergence of a distinct and subversive ‘queer’ man in inter-war Scotland. The attitudes of the police and courts appear to have been shaped by the identities assumed by the men that used the nation’s urban spaces for soliciting sex, for pleasure or for money. The effeminate homosexual, in particular the male prostitute, was marked out by his failure to perform expected norms of masculinity, and his deviance was perceived to be inscribed upon his body. Attitudes towards the effeminate homosexual continued in the post-war period and such men were the continued subject of scrutiny and derision from wider society and from homosexual men, the latter group perceiving effeminacy to be a discreditable form of homosexual identity
Mark Neocleous
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748692361
- eISBN:
- 9780748697205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692361.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter takes up a key theme in the liberal peace thesis: that the project of liberal peace begins in the eighteenth century with the work of Adam Smith on commerce and Adam Ferguson on civil ...
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This chapter takes up a key theme in the liberal peace thesis: that the project of liberal peace begins in the eighteenth century with the work of Adam Smith on commerce and Adam Ferguson on civil society. The chapter shows that far from being committed to ‘peace’, eighteenth century liberalism was concerned that peace would lead to men losing their military prowess and thus becoming effeminate. At the heart of eighteenth century liberalism is a crux of ideas concerning the necessity for war and masculine process. These ideas also underpin eighteenth century police science. The chapter makes this case by building on feminist work concerning masculinity and militarism, and also connects the debates in the eighteenth century with the same debates taking place in the war on terror.Less
This chapter takes up a key theme in the liberal peace thesis: that the project of liberal peace begins in the eighteenth century with the work of Adam Smith on commerce and Adam Ferguson on civil society. The chapter shows that far from being committed to ‘peace’, eighteenth century liberalism was concerned that peace would lead to men losing their military prowess and thus becoming effeminate. At the heart of eighteenth century liberalism is a crux of ideas concerning the necessity for war and masculine process. These ideas also underpin eighteenth century police science. The chapter makes this case by building on feminist work concerning masculinity and militarism, and also connects the debates in the eighteenth century with the same debates taking place in the war on terror.
Eric Saylor
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041099
- eISBN:
- 9780252099656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252041099.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter establishes a framework for understanding pastoralism from both expressive and stylistic perspectives. The first half of the chapter draws upon the work of various literary critics ...
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This chapter establishes a framework for understanding pastoralism from both expressive and stylistic perspectives. The first half of the chapter draws upon the work of various literary critics (including Paul Alpers, Terry Gifford, and Annabel Patterson) in order to establish three broad thematic or topical categories for pastoral artworks: Arcadian, soft, and hard. The remainder of the chapter examines pastoralism in terms of its style, providing an overview of both the musical traits associated with it and the major critical and interpretive issues they raise—most notably, concerns with pastoralism’s perceived engagement with the feminine.Less
This chapter establishes a framework for understanding pastoralism from both expressive and stylistic perspectives. The first half of the chapter draws upon the work of various literary critics (including Paul Alpers, Terry Gifford, and Annabel Patterson) in order to establish three broad thematic or topical categories for pastoral artworks: Arcadian, soft, and hard. The remainder of the chapter examines pastoralism in terms of its style, providing an overview of both the musical traits associated with it and the major critical and interpretive issues they raise—most notably, concerns with pastoralism’s perceived engagement with the feminine.