The Convent, the Brothel, and the Protestant Woman's Sphere

Fessenden, Tracy

doi:10.1086/495447

Cited by 36 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Unsurprisingly, nuns’ chastity has always attracted curiosity and speculation from the lay public (Fessenden, 2000; McNamara, 1996: 569–571). It has been understood in relatively narrow terms: as a denial of one’s sexual identity, or simply as abstinence from sexual intercourse.…”

Section: Femininity In Polandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond compliance and resistance: Polish Catholic nuns negotiating femininity

Trzebiatowska

2013

European Journal of Women's Studies

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This article examines the production of consecrated femininity in contemporary Polish convents. Drawing on qualitative data from 35 interviews in five religious communities the article explores the type of female agency which transforms the dominant model of Polish femininity instead of resisting it. Following Lois McNay's (2000) concept of narrative identity, the article argues that female agency does not necessarily emerge out of subversion of the male-dominated Polish Catholic Church. Rather than simply being placed within discursive structures, Catholic nuns reflexively alter them by using a mixture of gender ideology and spiritually driven gender work in order to produce coherent and socially meaningful narratives of consecrated femininity.

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Section: Femininity In Polandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond compliance and resistance: Polish Catholic nuns negotiating femininity

Trzebiatowska

2013

European Journal of Women's Studies

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“…“Passionlessness” supposedly evidenced spiritual superiority over men; Cott suggests that literate Protestant New England women leveraged “passionlessness” into domestic and political influence while necessarily limiting their sexual agency (p. 228). Tracy Fessenden responds to Cott in her 2000 “The Convent, the Brothel, and the Protestant Woman’s Sphere.” Fessenden agrees that evangelical discourse extolled the inherent morality of white, middle‐class Protestant women; however, she suggests that lurid tales of escaped nuns and prostitutes reposition and retrieve counter‐narratives of female sexual excess (p. 453). Protestant male writers deployed these tales of fallen women’s depravity against any who rejected the proprieties of “legitimate femininity” or challenged the “hegemony of the white Protestant middle class” (2000, pp.…”

Section: Thinking Sex: Axiomatic For American Religionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking Sex and American Religions

Goodwin

2011

Religion Compass

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Critical theories of sexuality provide key insights into American religious beliefs and practices. This article proposes six axioms by which scholars might approach thinking sex and American religions: that thinking sex is of broad academic significance; that critical sex theory differs in key ways from gender theory; that sexuality is historically constructed; that certain kinds of sex provide access to religious approbation and social privilege; that consideration of sex includes religious conservatives; and that America religious studies scholars must also confront the oversignification of sex. Each axiom is paired with examples of American religious scholarship that instantiate the proposed premise. Americans often assume that religion should dictate how to think (and do) sex -and that only certain kinds of sex are (or should be) permissible in ''good old American'' religions. Thus, scholars of American religions should be thinking sex.

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“…In this approach, the focus is on pathological practices; to our best knowledge, there is only one study that seeks to scrutinise the topic of gender and sexuality in the context of consecrated life beyond questions of sexual abuse and theological models. Trzebiatowska (2013), 1 claims that 'unsurprisingly, nuns' chastity has always attracted curiosity and speculation from the lay public (Fessenden 2000;McNamara 1996, pp. 569-71).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexuality beyond Chastity: Negotiating Gender Intimacy and Sexuality within Roman Catholic Religious Communities in Poland

Jewdokimow

Sadłoń

2022

Religions

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In late modernity both religion and sexuality are being elaborated in terms of reflexivity. In this article, we present findings from our research on the topic of constructions of gender, intimacy and sexuality by sisters and brothers in Catholic monasteries in Poland. The findings are based on the mixed-method transformative connection between qualitative (n = 92) and representative sample quantitative research (n = 1543) conducted in 2020. We studied reflexivity on gender, intimacy and sexuality within Catholic religious communities in Poland in order to understand how gender, intimacy and sexuality are presented in the institutionalized framework of religious life. Our study demonstrates that reflexivity on gender, intimacy and sexuality is highly institutionalised and deeply privatized within Catholic religious communities. The article shows that reflexivity of consecrated persons in Poland on gender, intimacy and sexuality is strongly shaped by religious norms (chastity) and subordinated to their religious roles.

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The Convent, the Brothel, and the Protestant Woman's Sphere

Cited by 36 publications

References 16 publications

Beyond compliance and resistance: Polish Catholic nuns negotiating femininity

Beyond compliance and resistance: Polish Catholic nuns negotiating femininity

Thinking Sex and American Religions

Sexuality beyond Chastity: Negotiating Gender Intimacy and Sexuality within Roman Catholic Religious Communities in Poland

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