Virginity

Male dominated fields suppress the visibility of women and form a patriarchal system that only benefit men. This system also affects the area of translation. In translations, encountering sexist language is common. To show that patriarchal language is degrading and misogynistic, some translators started to work on not only the translation itself but also on correcting the problematic language and concepts. These feminist translators make women’s voice visible in translations by adopting certain strategies. Emek Ergün’s translation of Virgin: The Untouched History (2007) is one of the examples of feminist translation practices in Turkish translations. The translator writes an unusually long preface on how the translation is a feminist one. Ergün also chooses the word “himen” over “kızlık zarı”, which is a conventional usage of the term, while translating “hymen”. Feminist translations of literary works promote feminist movement and give women some space to show that they exist in all the fields that men do. Although practicing feminist translation has been an ongoing act, is it realistic to expect from these translations to contribute to the feminist movement? Is it possible for women to voice their opinions about patriarchal use of language and concepts in translations? This paper will answer these questions by analyzing Emek Ergün’s translation and giving examples of other works to show that it is possible to counter patriarchy through translation.

A post-theatre question-and-answer session on the importance of (especially female) virginity in different cultures, and of the ethical and practical issues surrounding hymenoplasty (hymen repair surgery). The panel members included Shereen el Feki (author of *Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World*) and plastic surgeon Mr Nick Morris.

U članku se analizira srednjovjekovno hrvatskolatiničko prikazanje Muka svete Margarite. Članak je strukturiran dvodijelno: u prvome dijelu članka tematizira se žanrovska struktura hagiografskih legendi o ranokršćanskim djevicama-mučenicama te ranokršćanska konceptualizacija fenomena mučeništva i djevičanstva, dok se u drugome dijelu članka na tome tragu analizira fenomen herojskoga ženskog djevičanstva.

Ključne riječi: Muka svete Margarite, hagiografija, srednjovjekovno prikazanje, legende o djevicama-mučenicama, žensko religijsko djevičanstvo

An ambitious project with a beautiful outcome.

At first glance the fields of women and gender during the medieval millennium seem vast and insuperable. This volume is a must for students of Gender and Women’s Studies. It also offers interesting insights to the expert since so many different nuances are collectively addressed.

This paper describes and discusses a complicated Halachic case. It begins with a quarrel between a husband and wife, who were members of the Jewish community in Damascus during the 16th century. Their marital row led to a serious argument between two rabbis in the city, namely Rabbi Yosef Ibn Sayaḥ and Rabbi Moshe Baruch. The ensuing Halachic dispute that erupted involved rabbis from the neighboring city, Safed. The paper reconstructs the series of events, and presents the complete version of one of the responsa, which was written at the time of the dispute, along with excerpts from additional responsa.
The case offers readers a vivid glimpse into the life of 16th century Jewry in Damascus. It sheds light not only on marital affairs, such as the age of marriage and the couple's relationship, but on other important aspects regarding the function of the rabbinic court within the Ottoman Empire, and the relationships and interactions between sages from different centers. Analyzing this case helps to better understand the rabbis' written correspondence, the nature of superiors-subordinate relationships, and the alliances and conflicts that existed among sages in the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, these responsa reveal an additional piece of the Halachic work produced by Rabbi Yoseph Ibn Sayaḥ, a highly respected Musta'rib posek (adjudicator), whose writings have yet to receive their rightful place among the history pages of Halachic literature

The idea that Gregory of Nyssa’s work On Virginity was a piece of advocacy for Basil the Great’s ascetic programme has recently been challenged from various perspectives. Here I examine Gregory’s creation of a particular authorial voice through his manipulation of certain stock themes from classical literature on marriage; I show that De virginitate employs a range of reference hitherto unrecognised by scholars and is not just artful but poetic. By challenging boundaries between rhetoric, philosophy and poetry, and the useful and beautiful in the arts (boundaries which modern readers impose on ancient texts), I suggest that Gregory explicitly defends both virginity and marriage; he also implicitly gives a theological defence of his use of artful rhetoric. On Virginity is thus as much about theological poetics as it is about either marriage or celibacy.

This study proposes a new reading of a well-known episode in the Hebrew chronicles of the First Crusade (1096), the brutal martyrdom of the virgin bride Sarit. It argues that the story addresses the concern for maintaining the social and religious boundaries of the Jewish community in times of turmoil, and that this concern is focused on the virgin female body. Sarit’s virginal body becomes the site where internal and external struggles of the medieval Jewish community attain their resolution, both actual and metaphorical. Sarit’s virginity is viewed as an essential key for understanding the story and its social logic. Juxtaposing the description of her murder with contemporary Christian exegesis concerning the biblical figure of Jephthah’s daughter exposes conceptual proximity and a symbolic discourse of sacrifice shared by Jews and Christians. In both worlds, the virginal body is a symbolic arena which can be employed to alleviate internal social tensions and inter-religious conflict.

« Epargne les cheveux blancs de ton père, épargne l’âge tendre de ton fils : sacrifie pour le salut de l’empereur. Hilarianus demanda : Tu es chrétienne ? Je répondis : Je le suis ». Qu’est-ce qui pousse Perpétue, jeune matrone romaine originaire d’une petite ville proche de Carthage, à montrer tant d’ardeur devant le proconsul, à contrarier son père et ainsi à se tenir prête à mourir ? La foi. Les martyrs, qu’ils soient jeunes ou vieillards, laïcs ou clercs, hommes ou femmes, sont les premiers héros du christianisme. Cela n’est pas sans paradoxe pour les femmes, car montrer une telle vigueur et une telle autonomie ne correspond pas au modèle païen de la femme idéale.
2Ce mémoire est une enquête sur une quinzaine de martyres de femmes à travers quelques récits parvenus jusqu’à nous (les Actes et les Passions de martyrs ainsi que l’Histoire de la persécution vandale, œuvre méconnue de Victor de Vita, évêque chroniqueur de la résistance des catholiques). D’une manière générale, nous nous intéressons à la construction des modèles féminins et aux perturbations des identités de genres que les récits de martyres donnent à voir. Nous avons cherché à éclairer des questions récurrentes ou d'autres laissées de côté dans les recherches précédentes par la mise en perspectives des traditions antiques et bibliques, notamment avec l'appui des études de genre, qui ont considérablement renouvelé outre-Atlantique l'histoire du christianisme ancien.
3Le premier moment de notre démarche est une analyse des valeurs et des qualités qui sont propres aux descriptions de ces femmes engagées dans le martyre : pourquoi les martyres sont-elles souvent faibles, honorables et/ou belles ? La faiblesse, tout d’abord, rend leur vaillance, entendue comme « dépassement de leur sexe », plus glorieuse ; leur statut social élevé souligne ensuite la grandeur exceptionnelle de leur foi, puisque la perte de l’honorabilité dans les condamnations humiliantes, loin d’être une déchéance, devient un acte d’excellence pour Dieu ; la beauté, enfin, permet de magnifier ces vierges pudiques comme les plus nobles « athlètes du Christ ».
4Ensuite, nous nous interrogeons sur les liens et les tensions entre l’identité chrétienne et l’identité familiale et sociale, parce que ces martyres vivent leur engagement sur le mode du conflit, de la rupture avec les solidarités traditionnelles. Nombreuses sont les martyres qui doivent affronter la réprobation de leur famille et surtout de leur père, devant leur volonté de mourir pour leur foi : c’est ainsi que leurs familles et leurs persécuteurs les ramènent régulièrement à leurs rôles de mères, d’épouses ou de filles. Mais un compagnon de circonstance intervient parfois pour partager avec la martyre son combat : ni mari, ni simple frère en religion, cet homme énigmatique, véritable « époux spirituel » accompagne la sainte dans une relation chaste et contractuelle.
5C’est avant tout dans les tortures et dans la mise à mort que le martyre comme acte de foi et d’héroïsme est mis en valeur : nous avons voulu voir si les femmes se différenciaient alors des hommes. Si, fondamentalement, rien ne semble les opposer, c’est dans les rapports au corps que l’on peut déceler des spécificités plus féminines. Ainsi, il est moins fréquent pour une martyre que pour son compagnon masculin de saigner, comme si on désirait conserver un corps intact et inviolé après la mort. Autre singularité féminine : l'accession à la sainteté pour les jeunes vierges est conçue comme un rite de passage, où la martyre affronte seule ses persécuteurs jusqu'à accéder, au bout des pires souffrances, à une reconnaissance éternelle de sa cité.
6Une question traverse toute notre recherche, celle de la virilisation. Il est courant de dire dans l’historiographie, surtout la plus récente revue par les thématiques du genre, que les martyres sont devenues par leur courage telles des hommes. Perpétue ne dit-elle pas dans son dernier songe qu’elle « devint homme » ? Nous avons tenté de reformuler la question en mettant en évidence que la virilisation des martyres est une performance, au sens que lui donne Judith Butler, c'est-à-dire qu’elle se donne avant tout à voir dans des moments particuliers.La voix et la parole participent notamment de ce processus car les martyres, contrairement à l’usage traditionnel, n’hésitent pas, d’une voix claire et puissante, à prendre à partie leurs juges et le public païen venu en masse assister à leur procès et à leur exécution.
7Une nouvelle forme de virilisation apparaît également, celle de mères qui entrent au dernier moment du récit quand leurs fils sont prêts à trépasser. A la fois inspirées des modèles de la Mère maccabéenne et de Marie, ces femmes exhortent, dans une figuration inédite dans la Rome ancienne, leurs fils au courage. La vaillance du fils devient ici une « reconnaissance de dette » pour cette mère qui l’a enfanté et l’a élevé dans la foi.

Du recours aux hymens artificiels « chinois » à la pratique des réfections chirurgicales de l’hymen (hyménorraphie et hyménoplastie), je m'intéresse ici aux espaces interstitiels permettant de négocier l’impératif social de virginité prénuptiale. Au-delà de la description des usages en vigueur, il s’agit d’analyser la construction sémantique du discours de différents acteurs (jeunes femmes, corps médical, autorités religieuses), en montrant comment s’élabore une logique morale aux réfections d’hymen, qui convoque tour à tour les principes de repentance, protection et bien commun, ainsi que la notion de purification physique et psychique. Il importe en définitive de montrer comment les chirurgies de l’intime posent les techniques médicales à l’intersection de normes culturelles et arrangements individuels, sociaux et religieux, relevant tant du savoir-faire que du savoir-taire.

[Mei Oujin 梅欧金]. “Tianzhu shiyi zai Fujian: zai liang ge shijie, liang zhong shijian zhi jian. 天主实义在福建：在两个世界、两种时间之间.” In Lynn Struve (Si Tulin 司徒林), Zhao Shiyu 赵士瑜, and Du Zhengzhen 杜正贞 eds. Shijie shijian yu Dong Ya shijian zhong de Ming Qing bianqian: cong Ming dao Qing shijian de zhongsu 世界时间与东亚时间中的明清变迁-从明到清时间的重塑. Beijing: Sanlian Shudian, 2009, vol. 1, pp. 225-303. [Chinese translation of “Between Two Worlds and Two Times: Teachings of the Lord of Heaven in Fujian.” In Lynn Struve ed., Time, Temporality, and Change of Empires: East Asia from Ming to Qing. Association for Asian Studies-sponsored series Asian Interactions and Comparisons, University of Hawai’i Press, 2005].

The present article offers a concise comparison between the Vatican Council’s and Saint Paul’s teaching on marriage. Starting with the constitutions Gaudium et spes and Lumen gentium, the author demonstrates the council’s personalist approach to the marriage partnership understood as both spiritual and physical community of life characterized by equality between man and woman. The marriage transcends the purely natural order being established by the Creator himself and guarded by his laws. The Council stresses its indissolubility and sacramental character which reflects the love of Christ toward the Church and involves the grace that consecrates the spouses and enables them to fulfill their parental obligations. In the next part, the author shows how the teaching of Saint Paul in 1 Cor 7 prepares the ground for the council’s theology of marriage. The point of departure are the problems which the Christian marriages face in Corinth and which are quite similar to the contemporary challenges. Paul, referring to the command of the Lord, promotes the indissolubility of the Christian marriage (7,10-11) and its personalist character, imposing mutual and equal obligations on men and women (1 Cor 7,3-6). In 1 Cor 7 one can spot the emerging sacramental theology of marriage. The apostle differentiates it from the pagan marriages (1 Cor 7,12-16) and describes as stipulated “in the Lord” (1 Cor 7,39). The purpose of marriage is the mutual sanctification of the spouses and their offspring (1 Cor 7,12-14). The sacramental vision of marriage emerging in Cor 7 will be further elaborated by the Pauline school in Eph 5,21-33.


Keywords: Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, Lumen gentium, marriage, celibacy, sacrament, indissolubility, saint Paul, 1 Cor 7

Nature discerns individuals of all the species enduring on the planet earth either as male or female who live together for a shorter time span or for a life time partaking in building up of a population by courtship and mating. Both male and female individuals are well-appointed with an exceedingly advanced reproductive system that becomes fairly intricate and condensed in females in comparison to males as females bear the child load in their wombs. Although females play a vivacious role in raising a child from birth till adulthood they face copious hardhips some are known and some unknown. In the human society life of a female undergoes incredible prompt changes since she is a little child. Life becomes radically multifaceted with every step as she grows further reaching adulthood. Her life experiences an abrupt turn right after marriage when her husband asks her "Are you a virgin?".

Ritual of Defloration Virginity, Virility, and Blood In Middle Eastern cultures, the focal point of marriage is the wedding night where defloration, dukhla, takes the form of a ritual. It means the entry and signifies the consummation of marriage by the double confirmation of the female virginity and male virility, an indispensable condition for living a marital life together. In Oman, they build a honeymoon hut, kille, for the newly wed spouses at the groom's home, consisting of one room, richly decorated by the groom's female kin. The bride and groom spend seven days, in solitude, with no chores except defloration, and when this is over, the hut is torn down. 1 The wedding night is a site of struggle between chastity on the one hand and virility on the other. For both mates, the first sexual encounter is a night of utmost distress and apprehension. Concerns associated with honor and virginity could cause a great deal of anxiety for the spouses, such as whether or not the wife is a virgin, the sexual penetration will result in virginal blood, or the male could successfully perform the sexual act. A social study in Giza, Egypt, reveals that the deflowering process was a traumatic experience to the majority of the interviewed women who reported experiencing anxiety and fear prior to the act of deflowering and pain and panic during the act and after. These women said that they were not only disturbed and agitated, but were fearful of the whole episode. 2 Khattab states that the deflowering celebration is a harmful practice in Egyptian culture not only because of the undignified treatment and the associated fear and pain women experience, but also because they are thereby programmed into submission to husbands' demands for sexuality. This practice causes women to experience frigidity and sexual problems with their spouses. 3 These results are confirmed by another social study in Cairo stating that women often express very negative feelings of embarrassment, pain, and humiliation about their wedding night. Similar emotions are expressed by men who are sometimes traumatized and rendered impotent by the pressure to consummate the marriage as people knock on the door eagerly awaiting proof of the bride virginity. Singerman states that the ultimate symbol of a couple's incorporation into the community is the custom of showing the members of the community a white handkerchief stained with the bride's blood, after the marriage is consummated, making defloration a public event indeed. 4 Even in a nontraditional wedding night where the couple is left alone to consummate the marriage, they must still produce the same bloodstained handkerchief during the traditional morning visit of the couple's parents after the wedding, the sabahiyya. The couple keeps this proof of virginity throughout their marriage. 5 Another observation on the ritual of defloration in Cairo states that the ritual above all entails proving the bride's honor during the wedding party. The bridegroom has to break her hymen with his forefinger. Nevertheless, several women say that the men feel so ill at ease in this situation that in some cases one of the females attending the defloration ritual have to take care of the matter and carry it out. One or several bloodstained handkerchiefs are then triumphantly shown to the guests. 6 An Egyptian woman provides a remarkable and vivid narrative of her wedding night: "My wedding night was great. My husband deflowered me with his finger wrapped up with a hanky. I knew all about it from my grandmother. My mother-in-law, my mother, and my aunt were present with me in the room. They received the blood in handkerchief, which they passed on to my brothers. My brothers showed the stained handkerchief to a crowd amid beating of drums and great jubilation." 7

Unbecoming Female Monsters: Witches, Vampires and Virgins is a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary work founded on the idea that female monstrosity is buried within cultural constructs. It looks at the cult of the female body as a contested site of patriarchal fears and anxieties around female sexuality and its reproductive power. Cristina Santos explores how any process of female sexual development occurring outside society’s predetermined acceptable behavior patterns for women is considered deviant, monstrous, and/or degenerate. This type of socio-cultural censorship of female self-expression then leads to the prejudgment of the female by external forces within confining and inauthentic roles for the individual. Ultimately, those women who chose an authentic self-expression of their sexuality run the risk of possible exclusion from their community and punishment for not adhering to the dominant normative code.

ABSTRACT: It is usually assumed that the term "virgin" is universally used to designate a person who has not engaged in sexual intercourse. However, the ancient Egyptians apparently did not have a word that matches this definition of "virgin" or a term for the state of virginity. Distinctions in terminology seem to have existed between nubile females who had given birth and those who had not, rarher than those who had engaged in sexual activity and those who had not' This terminology is also linked to distinctions of age and sexual maturity. The term 'nfrt', which indicated both youth and nubility, is comparable to the Greek parthenos in that it seems to designate a young woman who has not given birth' The implications of the phrase 'n wpt-sn', used together with 'nfrt' are also discussed.

The present work centres around the question of the virginity imperative, a social contract and regime of power that regulates women’s bodies through disciplinary devices surrounding the socially constructed notion of female virginity. Through participant observation and interviews with young people of Iranian origin residing in Montreal, I explain why the virginity imperative persists among this population. Through description of women’s social navigation (Vigh 2006) of marriage and education, I argue that women’s apparent collusion with restrictive norms does not undermine their agency, but indicates their ability to make decisions that maximize social benefits given their particular circumstances. The argument extends to women’s performance of virginity, which is a face-saving tactic and instrumental in the practice of hypergyny among women I interviewed. Nevertheless, I argue, the virginity imperative operates to categorize women according to a virgin/whore dichotomy, rendering unliveable the lives of those who do not adequately perform virginity. Attitudes that define sex as defiling to women
contribute to a gendered politics of knowledge resulting in women’s limited expression of sexuality as compared to men’s, which, along with the patriarchal bargain (Kandiyoti 1988), plays a role in women’s lack of expression of dissent. I argue that men’s preference for virgin women is incompatible with the love marriages they claim to aspire to, and that men lack reflexivity of the consequences for women of attitudes that reinforce the virginity imperative. Bringing an end to these painful consequences requires public discussion to replace their relegation to, and management within, the private sphere.

PDF z całą książką.
Abstract:
Ophelism should be defined as a visual code. It emerged at the turn of 18th century, when images of young female body immersed in water and/or flowers begun to function as the representation of the mystery of femininity. Usually, 19th century Ophelism have been treated as examples of misogynist convictions, framing femininity as madness, untamed sexuality or unreasonable and passive nature. At the same time opposite meanings have been attributed to Ophelic images present in contemporary feminist art. The book "Ophelism. Romantic Reappropriations, Feminist Interventions" origins in an intuition that neither was 19th century Ophelism a homogenous, univocal phenomenon nor its 20th century embodiments should be seen in this way either. Providing case studies of works of literature, painting, opera, film, and performance, the author  discusses representations of female (at times, effeminate) body, where the motives of water and/or flowers unsettle traditional narratives, questioning gender dualism, opposition between nature and culture, hierarchical orders.
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Ofelizm nie jest pojęciem analogicznym do hamletyzmu. Oznacza rodzaj wizualnego języka, który wyłania się na przełomie XVIII i XIX wieku i rozwija niezależnie od teatralnych reprezentacji, za podstawę mając nie sceny z udziałem Ofelii, lecz przedstawienia jej śmierci. Przyjęło się uważać, że te wizerunki ciała młodej kobiety w otoczeniu kwiatów i/lub wody wcielają mizoginiczne wyobrażenia, które kobiecość  ujmują w kategoriach szaleństwa, nieujarzmionej seksualności, przynależności do sfery natury. Książka "Ofelizm. Romantyczne zawłaszczenia, feministyczne interwencje" wyrosła z przekonania, że w ofelizmie od początku istniało i nadal istnieje kilka nurtów. Tematem zamieszczonych w niej studiów są przedstawienia kobiecego (niekiedy ukobieconego) ciała, w których woda i kwiaty służą rozsadzeniu tradycyjnych narracji i zakwestionowaniu dualizmu płci, opozycji natury i kultury, porządku opartego na hierarchiach. Omówienia wybranych tekstów, obrazów i inscenizacji tworzą tu alternatywną historię ofelizmu, w której stawką jest pytanie o jego wywrotowy potencjał.

Tragic rampage killing sprees are too often reoccurring events in the United States landscape. Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, dozens of children and young people have died at the hands of shooters, cited as loners, victims of bullying out for revenge against those that had wronged them; but the shooters have another and often less noted characteristic in common: Most of them are white, all of them are men. This thesis is about one of those men.
On May 23, 2014, Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger killed six people, wounded 13, and committed suicide before police could apprehend him. Taking its departure in masculinities theory and affect theory, this thesis aims to explore the current state of hegemonic masculinity, and aims to demonstrate its influence on the motivation for Elliot Rodger’s rampage killing spree, on his justification of the crime, and on the discursive self-construction he left behind. Ultimately the thesis argues that Elliot Rodger used an ideology of hegemonic masculinity as a basis for creating a discursive self-construction as a grievable body, by blaming those he targeted: women.
The theoretical framework is constructed from theories and research by Judith Butler, Michael Kimmel, C.J. Pascoe, R.W. Connell and Lauren Berlant.

The kumārī is a powerful, often overlooked symbol of identity for practitioners of Kaula Tantrism. This dissertation argues that she is an important liminal, independent figure weaving together many intersecting, opposing threads of orthodox, Tantric, and indigenous culture and belief. Focusing on Kaula literature and practice, this expansive study traces the origins of the kumārī and her worship throughout history, documenting for the first time several significant developments in the history of Kaula Tantrism.

Born around the year 460 BC , Hippocrates is known as one of the most remarkable physicians of all times. The ancient Greek patients had several choices when they were severely ill. But many patients turn directly to the gods, typically Asclepius, the God of medicine. Many asclepieia (healing temples) were built and from the 5th century BC onwards, and people would come to the temples hoping for a cure or a dream containing some sort of a cure. Hippocrates insisted on medicine being practiced according to natural sciences and anatomy hence physical observations of symptoms and natural treatments. But the persistent notion of the woman inhabited by a "wandering womb", "an animal within an animal" and the coexistence of Goddesses unable to control their drives and their mind contributed to the idea that women were driven to madness for anatomical and mental reasons. But with the birth of a rationalized medicine,  what would be the impact on the representation of the image of the Woman in the city-state and how would that translate into the medical field ?

In this article, the authors use the example of hymen repair surgeries to discuss the reconfigurations of patriarchal practices in the People's Republic of China. Following a brief overview of concepts of virginity and the importance of the hymen in China, they describe the spread of hymen restorations in the reform era. These surgeries link up traditionalist and ‘patriarchal’ practices and relationships with particular expressions of sexual liberalism in contemporary China.

According to the rules that govern Roman religion, a white sacrificial animal is offered to a celestial or earth god, while infernal divinities receive a black one. Moreover, each deity is pleased by the immolation of an animal belonging to the same sex: male animals to gods, female ones to goddesses. What happens when those rules are not followed? We examine the regular and -mainly- the irregular cases and see why those particular divinities do nοt follow the general rule that the animal’s nature should be conform to the god’s one. We propose a new theory, based on the notion that they are reminisces from the era when the deities were asexual. We reinforce this interpretation by providing examples of sex perturbations in Roman religion (androgynous, bisexual and biform divinities, which are often related to human procreation and nature’s fertility). A minor examination concernσ the other sacrificial rule’s rare deviations, such as offerings of opposite colored or even red animals.

Ósmy dzień tygodnia Marka Hłaski to opowiadanie tak gęste od znaczeń – przez autora zamierzonych i niezamierzonych – że niemal każde jego zdanie prosi się o zacytowanie. Opowiadanie niezwykłe, bo choć napisał je człowiek, którego styl życia i twórczości dyk-towała kulturowo skrojona męskość, centralną postacią tekstu jest dziewczyna. Mizogi-niczny obraz świata nabiera swoistej wiarygodności, gdy daje mu wyraz kobieta, dlatego pisarzom często zdarza się podszywać pod kobiecy głos, wybierać żeńską formę narracji. U Hłaski jest odwrotnie: choć narrator to bezosobowy głos z offu, styl autora nie łagod-nieje, a język werystycznie oddaje grozę, brzydotę, przemoc i chropowatość rzeczywi-stości – pozwala doświadczyć tej rzeczywistości z perspektywy dziewczyny. Konfrontacja z " ciemną stroną życia " to znak rozpoznawczy Hłaski. Podobny styl upodo-bał sobie Andrzej Stasiuk. Autorem i zarazem głównym bohaterem " polskiego westernu " 1 jest mężczyzna, który dokonuje transcendentalnych przekroczeń, gdy w poszukiwaniu sensu życia zapuszcza się w zakazane rewiry, niebezpieczne strony miasta, dzikie pustko-wia. Symbolizują one bezdroża ludzkiej natury, do granic których podróżuje piszący. Robi to za pomocą używek: alkoholu, papierosów i kobiet. Jeśli z kimś rozmawia, to z nielicz-nymi przyjaciółmi – zawsze mężczyznami. Niemożność odnalezienia sensu życia oznacza także zagubioną tożsamość. Brutalność opisu świata to ochrona przed skrywaną wraż-liwością, którą czytelnik ma dostrzec i docenić, bo to właśnie owa wrażliwość skłania bohaterów – i samych autorów – do ciągłych poszukiwań. A jednak i jednych, i drugich

The story of Drusiana, follower of St. John, is almost unique in all of Western literature. It tells the story of a saintly woman, an analogue of St. John himself, whose body tempts beyond death itself. The fortunes of this story were dramatic. The differences are great between its original 2nd century form, its 10th century treatment by the Christian world’s first playwright and the pictorial representation by the artists of the 13th century English Apocalypse manuscripts, yet the themes presented are strangely similar. This essay traces the reception of that story, its forms, its censorship and its resurrection.

Abstract:
The aim of this research is to evaluate the use of lies and other forms of concealment of reality to manipulate the female reputation, which depends on their sexuality. The lies serves to strip an innocente person of his good reputation. While the use of intermediaries, magic, contraception, products to restore virginity, abortion, infanticide, abandonment and identity change help to not lose reputation to those who have committed sexual mistakes.
Resumen: El  objetivo  de  esta  investigación  es  valorar  el  uso  de  mentiras  y  otras  formas  de  ocultación  de  la  realidad  para manipular la fama femenina, la cual depende de su sexualidad. Las mentiras sirven para despojar de su buena fama a quienes no han hecho nada para perderla. Mientras el uso de intermediarias, hechiceras, anticonceptivos, productos para recuperar la virginidad, abortivos, el infanticidio, el abandono y el cambio de identidad ayudan a no perderla a aquellas que han cometido errores sexuales.

Abstrakt: Artykuł poświęcony jest kulturowym znaczeniom cielesnych atrybutów i praktyk związanych z dzie-wictwem i defl oracją. Szczególne miejsce wśród nich zajmuje plama krwi jako znak obwieszczający utratę dziewictwa oraz penetracja powszechnie uważana za jedyny " prawdziwy " seks. Przymus uwidocznienia de-fl oracji oraz wstyd z tym związany traktuję jako punkt wyjścia do rozważań na temat piętnowania kobiecości. Dekonstrukcja narosłych wokół penetracji znaczeń pozwala z kolei dostrzec, że związek przyczynowo-skut-kowy między płcią kulturową a kulturowo defi niowanymi praktykami seksualnymi – w tym orientacją sek-sualną – jest nie tylko nierozerwalny, ale i odwrotny, niż zwykło się sądzić. To nie płeć kulturowa decyduje o seksualności jednostki, lecz kulturowo wymuszone praktyki seksualne produkują płeć.