Using social and queer theory on domination, sexuality and gender, this contribution explores how the queer American author Dorothy Allison celebrates the vilii ed transgressive lesbian body. As, in the 1970s, the mainstream American feminist movement crystallized around the dei nition of an acceptable sexuality in the name of femininity, female sexual practices were standardized according to strict identity frames, carnal desire was denied, and transgressive lesbians who play with gender roles were dei ned as abject. In response to this extreme taming of the body, Allison interrogates the notions of masculinity and femininity, domination and submission in her exploration of sexual pleasure and traumatized sexuality. She celebrates the aggressiveness and masculinity of queer lesbianism, promotes the l uidity of gender roles, and asserts the primacy of the l esh, sensuality, and materiality in sexuality. Keywords: Dorothy Allison; feminism; gender; lesbian body; sexuality.* Mélanie Grué, PhD, is a temporary teaching and research fellow at Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne, where she teaches Literature, translation and English for specialists of other disciplines. Her i elds of research include Dorothy Allison's works, trauma and resistance literature, literary representations of the body and sexuality, gender and queer studies, as well as feminist and queer visual arts.
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