Dressing up/dressing down : power, performance and identity in the Book of Judith.

Sawyer, Deborah F. (2001) Dressing up/dressing down : power, performance and identity in the Book of Judith. Theology and Sexuality, 8 (15). pp. 23-31. ISSN 1745-5170

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Abstract

In this paper Sawyer reads the book of Judith through the lens of queer theory and contemporary French feminist philosophy. She argues that the story of Judith is a clear example of gender subversion in the ancient world, a rupture in the metanarrative, a disruption of boundaries. Par ticularly interesting is the depiction of Judith as becoming feminine, putting on drag, as it were, in order to entice Holofernes. Judith puts on a particular performance of gender to achieve her purpose and then resumes her role as gender subverter imitating a male warrior at the end of battle by loading up her mules with booty! If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders can be neither true nor false, but are only produced as the truth effects of a discourse of primary and stable identity (Butler 1990: 136).

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Theology and Sexuality
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/bl
Subjects:
?? BL RELIGION ??
ID Code:
14040
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
09 Oct 2008 12:17
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Sep 2023 23:53