Masculine uses of the womb in the renaissance
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Title
Expanding and Restricting the Erotic: A Critique of Current and Past Norms
Publisher
Brill/Rodopi
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
35496
Abstract
This chapter argues that the uterus/womb occupies an exceptionally important position in the female body at the expense of other female pelvic viscera in terms of its undeniable yet questionable power to define both femininity and masculinity in anatomy theatres, images and literary blazons of the Renaissance. Considered as the emblem of femininity, the uterus has been an object of male desires, male sex drives, and male phantasies that have inherently favoured male interpretations of the female body, which has caused an indiscriminate and unreflective dissemination of anatomical knowledge. This survey is an attempt to offer insights into male exploitations of the womb with a specific focus on the gendered epistemological struggle between medical patriarchy and the evasive female body. In the continuum of pre-Renaissance and Renaissance periods, post-mortem dissections of female cadavers in anatomy theatres are succeeded by the artistic and literary reflections of male desires for power and control over the female/feminised body, which culminates in the substitution of the womb with the brain for male literary purposes. However, the evasive female body and cadaver deny easy and clear interpretation, which destabilises patriarchal authority and hegemonic masculinity. Thus, the inherent characteristics of the female body have shaken the very foundations of the male socio-medical authority and challenged the traditional male endeavours to gain knowledge and control over the (female) body in order to confirm their masculine identities.
DOI
10.1163/9789004429734_008
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Karali, Ş. N. (2020). Masculine uses of the womb in the renaissance. In L. Buttigieg, S. Kanaouti, L. M. Evangelista & R. S. Stewart (Eds.), Expanding and restricting the erotic: A critique of current and past norms (pp. 128-154). Brill/Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004429734_008