A Mother's Love: Crafting Feminine Virtue in Enlightenment France (review)

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-412
Author(s):  
Kristi L. Krumnow
Keyword(s):  
Feminine Virtue

Salvation and Childbearing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia D. Myers
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Pastoral Epistles ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Feminine Virtue

Augustus’s prioritization of family life to promote his own masculinity resulted in a simultaneous emphasis on motherhood in the Roman world. Not only did motherhood advertise a man’s masculine purposing of his woman/wife, but it was also a legitimate path to increased agency for free(d) women. Situated in this context, New Testament and other early Christian traditions offer varying constructions of “feminine virtue,” some of which prioritize or assume motherhood and others of which downplay or even reject it. This chapter examines these themes in the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament household codes (Col 3:18–4:3; Eph 5:21–6:9; 1 Pet 2:9–3:12), the Acts of Thecla, Acts of Andrew, and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. In their sustained wrestling with and formations of Christian gender(s), these writings present salvation as masculinization for all followers of Christ, but they disagree on whether motherhood should be a part of this process.

The Costume of the Vestal Virgins

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan J. DiLuzio
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
Vestal Virgins ◽  
Feminine Virtue ◽  
The City

This chapter examines the Vestal costume. Like the dress of a respectable matrona, the costume of a Vestal rendered visible her social status and moral probity. The full Vestal regalia included the seni crines (six-tressed) hairstyle, a headdress composed of the infula and vittae (woolen bands), a veil known as the suffibulum, a palla (mantle), the soft shoes of a priestess, and a long tunica (tunic). Through a detailed analysis of the Vestal costume, the chapter analyzes how its constituent parts worked together to define and represent a Vestal's position as a public priestess and ideal virgin. These two facets of her identity were inextricably linked and absolutely central to her role in Roman society. A Vestal's virginity guaranteed her ritual purity and her ability to secure the inviolability of the city. In addition to these vital ritual and symbolic functions, her absolute castilas provided a template of feminine virtue after which other women could model their behavior.

The Virile Bride of Bernard of Clairvaux

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn M. Krahmer
Keyword(s):  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
Male Privilege ◽  
Active Service ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Feminine Virtue ◽  
Psychological Integration ◽  
Made In

That feminine metaphors dominate Bernard of Clairvaux's treatment of the contemplative soul who as loving Bride marries Christ in prayerful ecstasy, and as Mother nurtures the world in active service, is indisputable. And much has been made in recent years of the significance of a medieval male “assuming” the role of the female, both in relation to society at large and in relation to God. These latter arguments might be summarized by the claims that the appropriation of feminine images to the medieval male self is frequently either a conscious play on cultural stereotypes to signal spiritual renunciation or the rejection of worldly values, or reflects a need, whether conscious or unconscious, for psychological integration of the feminine and masculine in the lives of those confined to a homo-social world. In Bernard's Bride, then, we discover either the male appropriation of feminine weakness as a sign of spiritual strength or the rational male appropriation of the counterbalancing feminine virtue of affective love. What has not been recognized, however, is the possibility that the figure of the Bride in Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of Songs might function paradoxically as a “virile woman,” a female “figure” or type who serves appropriately to represent the highest spiritual attainments of the human soul (whether of biological male or female), precisely because she has overcome any stereotypically “womanly” weaknesses and become typologically “male” or “virile.” Our interpretation of this seminal figure must thus not only take into account the confluence of masculine and feminine in her nature in ways we have not previously suspected. We must also consider the paradoxical reality that this figure may simultaneously represent a soul who is virtuous for having renounced male privilege and become a weak woman and a soul who is valorized for having overcome feminine weakness and become virile. It is this thesis that I will argue in what follows.

scholarly journals Kobieca cnota. Próba zrozumienia ewolucji znaczenia cnoty na przestrzeni wieków

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Beata Raszewska-Żurek
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Cultural Determinants ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Feminine Virtue

Feminine virtue. An attempt at understanding the evolution of the meaning of cnota (virtue) over the centuriesThe article is devoted to the evolution of the meaning of the Polish lexeme cnota (virtue) starting from the Old Polish to the present time. The starting point is the change in the meaning of the lexeme virtue from the ‘complex of ethical qualities’ in the Old Polish language to the ‘hymen’ in the twentieth century. From the beginning of the Polish language, the lexeme virtue contained a different catalogue of values in relation to men and women. Analysis concerned these meanings which referred to a woman and were related to the valuation not only of the virtue, but also of a woman in general, taking into consideration non-linguistic, social and cultural determinants. The material comes from historical and contemporary Polish language dictionaries. The studies also included the use of lexemes related to the lexem cnota (virtue), such as an adjective cnotliwy (virtuous) or a noun cnotka (would-be virgin, goody-goody), if they concerned the woman‘s virtue. The meaning of the lexeme virtue in relation to a woman was associated with virginity, chastity, considered as a key factor for determining the value of a woman. Such meaning, associated with a positive valuation of virtue persisted until the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the broad importance of the lexeme virtue has fallen into disuse, the meaning has been narrowed to ‘virginity’. Following this, in connection with social and customary changes, the virtue, already as ‘virginity’, lost its traditional high rating in the category of moral values.

scholarly journals Burial of a woman with an amber distaff at Viminacium

Starinar ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 215-229
Author(s):  
Ilija Dankovic
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Roman Women ◽  
Feminine Virtue ◽  
The Life Course

A luxurious set of spinning implements was discovered as part of the furnishings in the grave of a woman, unearthed in the surroundings of ancient Viminacium. A unique amber distaff with the upper part modelled in the form of a female bust stands out as the most important part of the grave assemblage. Similar artefacts were often misinterpreted, but this specimen was found together with a spindle, thus confirming that it actually is a distaff. Miniature copies of spinning equipment made out of precious materials are known from sepulchral contexts, and are described as objects expressing feminine virtue. It is considered that they were used in wedding rites, thus indicating the possible age of the deceased. Spinning implements can represent useful tools for studying the life course of Roman women. In this paper, an attempt was made to identify the divinity or person depicted on the distaff from Viminacium, considering the symbolic nature of these artefacts.

Feminine Virtue and Feminist Fervor

Affilia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Anne Hensley
Keyword(s):  
Feminine Virtue
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