Item Details

abstract

This thesis discusses the current scholarly conversation surrounding the gender identity of Perpetua as illustrated in The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas. While many scholars contend that Perpetua's exemplification of various masculine traits and virtues makes her "male," I argue that such conclusion overlooks too quickly the spectrum of possibilities. For, by taking a deeper look within the narrative, I argue that Perpetua maintains a lasting sense of femininity throughout the work's entirety. Instead of arriving at a forced "either/or" conclusion, then, I suggest that another possible gender category may be at play: androgyny. In order to support this claim, however, I look to the meaning of masculine, feminine, and androgynous traits in antiquity, as well as investigate whether androgyny was a known and/or popular category during the time of Perpetua's martyrdom.

subject

Ancient Religious Texts

Androgyny

Early Christian Literature

Gender

Genesis Creation Story

Perpetua

contributor

Lieberman, Sarah Elizabeth (author)

Foskett, Mary F (committee chair)

Horton, Fred L (committee member)

Boyd, Stephen B (committee member)

date

2011-07-14T20:35:35Z (accessioned)

2013-07-14T08:30:10Z (available)

2011 (issued)

degree

Religion (discipline)

embargo

2013-07-14 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33455 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

Vibia Perpetua's Gendered Hybridity: A Critical Examination of Perpetua's Androgynous Identity in the Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas

type

Thesis