MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

WMN2260/3260

Sexing the text: constructions of female sexuality

Proposed to be offered next in 1997

Rose Lucas

Synopsis How is female sexuality/sexualities constructed within literary and cinematic texts? To what extent is it presented as a biological given, or as a product of conventional gender stereotypes? What are some of the alternatives to a rigid masculine/feminine model to account for sexual difference and for the mechanisms of desire? The subject considers these problematic issues in relation to a range of texts from a variety of media selected from across the distinctions of so-called high/popular art. It offers an in-depth analysis of the chosen textual examples in the context of a range of feminist theories about gender and sexual difference.

Assessment Written (4500 words): 75% + Examination (1.5 hours): 25%

Prescribed texts

• Fallon, M Working hot Sybylla, 1989
• Turner Hospital, J Charades UQP, 1988
• Winterson, J The passion Penguin, 1987
• A Mills and Boon romance
• A reading pack will also be available from the Centre for Women's Studies

Recommended texts

• Butler, J Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of "sex" Routledge, 1993