Virtual Gender: Fantasies of Subjectivity and EmbodimentThis collection breaks new ground in the area of gender studies both because it creates a name for gender fantasy--virtual gender--that introduces a new understanding of the concept, and in expanding the idea of virtuality to include people and events in history. The essays in Virtual Gender help identify and name the persistent cultural desire for an imaginative space in which to "put on" alternative gender identities, while examining as well the equally persistent and consequent critique of that desire. The sweep of the volume's coverage is impressive, ranging across historical periods and academic disciplines, as contributors consider the place of the body in gender fantasy and the consequences of gender fantasy for real people and real bodies. The essays investigate figures and topics including Amelia Earhart, soap-opera chat groups, Elizabeth I, mesmerism, lesbianism in the early modern period, cybergames, women in the federalist period, the transgendered body, and performance art. Also examined are the status of embodiment, the origins of gender, gender politics, the pains of subjectivity, the uses of utopian fantasy, technological advances and information technology, the experience of gendered communities, and the role of gender in global politics. Contributors include Harriette Andreadis, Seyla Benhabib, Charlotte Canning, Bernice Hausman, Janel Mueller, Mary Ann O'Farrell, Kay Schaffer, Sidonie Smith, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Helen F. Thompson, Lynne Vallone, and Robyn Warhol. The book will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience of scholars, critics, and students with interests in gender, identity, and cyberculture. Mary Ann O'Farrell is Associate Professor of English, Texas A & M University. Lynne Vallone is Associate Professor of English, Texas A & M University. |
Contents
Mary Ann OFarrell and Lynne Vallone | 1 |
Mobility Flight and the Discontents of Identity Sidonie Smith | 11 |
Gender in the SelfRepresentations of Queen Elizabeth I Janel Mueller | 37 |
Franz Anton Mesmers Magnetic Public Sphere Helen Thompson | 65 |
Performing Femininity on an Electronic Bulletin Board for Soap Opera Fans Robyn R Warhol | 91 |
Feminist Autobiography in Performance Charlotte Canning | 108 |
Invisible Borders Ambiguous Demarcations Harrietts Andreadis | 127 |
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Amelia Earhart American Amnesia argues autobiography aviator behaviors body politic Bornstein British Library butch and femme butch/femme Carmelita Tropicana century claim commissioners constituted construction context critical Cuba cultural cyberfeminist cyberspace defined desire discourse discussion DNA Sluts Earhart early modern Elizabeth embodiment essay experience fantasy female same-sex feminine feminism feminist theory flight Gatens gender identity Hereafter all references heterosexual human imagination individual Judith Butler Kate Bornstein Katherine Philips language lesbian Leslie Feinberg Luce Irigaray magnetism male Mary masculine McCauley means memory Mesmeric narrative norms Pateman performance players postmodern Queen realm references will appear relation representations role Rothblatt Rousseau Routledge Sally's Rape same-sex erotics sense sexual difference soap opera social space speech Stone Butch Blues story strong evaluative subversion suggests theorists tion trans transgender transgressive transsexual tribades Tropicana/Troyano University Press virtual gender VNS Matrix woman women writes York