Naslov
Gender Constructing in Aristaenetus’ Collection: “Male” vs. “Female” Letters

Autori
Hajdarević, Sabira

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Online (web stranica) / - , 2022, 1-1

Skup
Oxford Early Text Cultures (ETC) Project, Gender Studies in Premodern Cultures ; Gender identities - Final Workshop

Mjesto i datum
Oxford, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo, 08.04.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Radionica

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Aristaenetus ; Gender Construction

Sažetak
The collection entitled Erotic Letters, usually attributed to Aristaenetus, was written in the 5th or 6th century AD. It consists of 50 letters divided into two books, Book I containing 28 and Book II containing 22 of them. My previous research has revealed that the expected gender roles are severely questioned or even inverted in several letters of the Collection. Aristaenetus’ women—especially courtesans, but not only them—are sometimes surprisingly (sexually) assertive, cunning and therefore usually successful when attempting seduction or adultery. On the other hand, men are occasionally sexually objectified, outwitted, declined or repeatedly cheated on. Since the senders, addressees and protagonists in the Collection are both male and female, I find it important to investigate if the choice of the gender of the correspondents/protagonists of any given letter has an impact on the overall gender construction of that letter (i.e. the course of events and relations depicted). Therefore, I intend to scrutinise the letters and find out which gender is more likely to write and send letters depicting relationships that question/invert the expected gender roles (e.g. repeated (successful) female adulteries, oversexualised wives married to asexual husbands, objectification of men etc.). The final goal of my research is to investigate if Aristaenetus already had a particular gender construction in mind while he was choosing the gender of his correspondents/protagonists. It is my assumption that he did not make that choice randomly and that the letters written by men might be in concordance with the expected gender roles (e.g. bragging to a male friend), while the ones written by women, especially courtesans, might be the ones displaying the inversion of gender roles.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija, Književnost, Rodni studiji

POVEZANOST RADA