RMMLA: 2005 Coeur d'Alene Convention Program RMMLA: Conference Abstract Display


The Shame of all her Kind: Patriarchal Anxieties of the Female Sexual Body in The Faerie Queene

This paper explores the history of female genitalia and their representations, focusing on the clitoris and vagina. Early Modern male writers dealt with patriarchal fears by writing about female sexuality and its threat to masculinity through disempowerment. I will use Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene to illustrate patriarchal anxieties by focusing on the allegorical female bodies, rape, and the female characters' sexual desires. I will conclude with the idea that there is still a mystique surrounding the female's sexuality in regards to popular culture.

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© 2004 ROCKY MOUNTAIN MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION