Virgin Envy: The (In)Significance of the Hymen: The Cultural (In)Significance of the Hymen: 3 (Exquisite Corpse) - Softcover

Adriana Spahr; Cristina Santos; Jonathan A. Allan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0889774234 ISBN 13: 9780889774230

Publisher: University of Regina Press, 2016

Synopsis

Virgin Envy sets out to re-conceive the ways that we describe and relate to virginity as a cultural construct. Examining everything from medieval romance to Bollywood to Twilight and True Blood, the contributors to this volume destabilize many of the ""certainties"" about this problematic idea. In particular, the hymen -- generally understood of as the sign of virginity -- is called into question. What happens to those who do not have a hymen? How do we account for the medicalization of virginity via the hymen and the ways in which the ""geography of the hymen"" has changed over the course of history? Contributors also attend to questions of nation-states, post-coloniality, religious diversity, violence, and virginity, as well as queer virginities.

About this title

About the Authors

Jonathan Allan is Canada Research Chair in Queer Theory and Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and English and Creative Writing at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba. He is the author of Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus.

Cristina Santos is an Associate Professor at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario. Her current research investigates the monstrous depictions of women as aberrations of feminine nature vis-À-vis the socio-culturally proscribed norm. Publications include Defiant Deviance: The Irreality of Reality in the Cultural Imaginary; The Monster Imagined: Humanity's Re-Creation of Monsters and Monstrosity; and Monstrous Deviations in Literature and the Arts.

Adriana Spahr received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. She explores the interdisciplinary connections between cultural and political components in Latin American literature, especially in Argentina. Her last co-authored book, Madre de Mendoza/Mother of Mendoza, reflects her current research interest in testimonial literature.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Regina Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0889774234
• ISBN 13: 9780889774230
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256