The Ambiguous Laughter of Saint Laurence

Conybeare, Catherine

doi:10.1353/earl.2002.0018

Cited by 19 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 20 publications

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“…36 It should also be noted that sexuality is a spectrum and many people will desire bodies which fall outside socially constructed desirability. 37 Except of course: Frankfurter (2009), Ross (1995) and Conybeare (2002) among others.…”

Section: Schemata On Sexual Objectificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewriting masculinity with male bodies: The sexualization of male martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon

Marshall¹

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<p>It is now generally accepted that Saint Agnes is portrayed in the Peristephanon as ambiguously gendered (she is masculinized and refeminized), sexualized and objectified in such a way as to intentionally lead the reader to view her as a sexual object. Scholars have used philology, intertextual readings, gaze theory and, most successfully, Laura Mulvey’s conception of the workings of voyeurism4 in order to explicate and examine the portrayal of Agnes in Prudentius’ Peristephanon. However, as the above quotations indicate, there is a similar though different, subtler mode of sexualization, sexual allusion and, therefore, objectification that may be read in the Peristephanon’s martyrdoms-- those of the male saints. The passages quoted above show Agnes welcoming her executioner as a lover in strident rhetoric while Cassian’s executioners are exhausted from torturing him to death and are described in terms similar to lovers near the end of their exertions, giving new meaning to his exhortation that they ‘be vigorous’. This highlights the importance of the virility of the executioner/s as they stand in for God as agents whose actions will complete the contract of martyrdom and bring the martyr into a union, or marriage, with Christ. The eagerness and ability of the executioners is integral in this transaction. Agnes’ lover with his ‘eager steps’ and ‘hot desires’ is masculine and forceful enough to please even the masculinized Agnes. While Cassian’s torturers fail because they are not fully-grown and cannot therefore bring the contract to completion. Indeed Cassian only speaks once in the entire poem and it is to exhort his torturers to finish him off, to exhort his lovers to (at last) become men. Cassian is presented with exactly the kind of lover that Agnes has spurned, soft effeminate boys. Yet Cassian does not speak against their suitability as the chosen instruments of his bridegroom. He is feminized through his passive acceptance of the manner of his death. Then, much like Agnes, is remasculinized as the boys’ penetrations fail to kill him and God must step in. Cassian’s masculinity is undermined by that which is not present: ability in rhetoric, agency, and virility. And although it is recouped by God, it is interesting that he and his masculinity have taken a detour through mute objectification and passivity, a sort of sexualization.</p>

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Section: Schemata On Sexual Objectificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewriting masculinity with male bodies: The sexualization of male martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon

Marshall¹

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Laughter and Power

Conybeare¹

2013

The Laughter of Sarah

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The Tomboyism of Faith: Spiritual Tomboyism in the Cult of Sainte Foy

Kao

2011

Journal of Lesbian Studies

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This article offers a reading of premodern, spiritual tomboyism as evident in the cult of Sainte Foy in France during the ninth to eleventh centuries. It draws attention to the signs of differently gendered and aged masculinities in the female child saint. Martyred at the cusp of puberty, Sainte Foy remains forever suspended in her gender development. Bernard of Angers, in the Liber miraculorum, portrays Foy as a trickster tomboy whose miracles are known as her "jokes." But beyond the historical Foy and the textual Foy, there is a third Foy who is embodied in a reliquary statue with an adult male head. In times of social upheaval, Sainte Foy, whose earthly presence is manifest in her relics and reliquary statue, functions as a local patronus who protects her monastery, properties, and devotees. Her male-headed reliquary further affirms her identity as a holy warrior of Christ who fights to uphold the Peace of God. As trickster-tomboy and warrior-patronus, Sainte Foy hovers at and crosses over the boundaries of both gender- and age-based identities and practices.

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The Ambiguous Laughter of Saint Laurence

Cited by 19 publications

References 20 publications

Rewriting masculinity with male bodies: The sexualization of male martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon

Rewriting masculinity with male bodies: The sexualization of male martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon

Laughter and Power

The Tomboyism of Faith: Spiritual Tomboyism in the Cult of Sainte Foy

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