‘Their song was partial; but the harmony […] suspended hell’: Intertextuality, voice and gender in Milton/Symphony X’s Paradise Lost

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Bolay

I illustrate how Symphony X’s concept album retells Milton’s Paradise Lost and complicates the narrative through its use of voice and creative extrapolation, resulting in an intertextual relationship through which the album and epic influence one another’s readings, particularly with regard to gender and the biblical binary of good/evil. One of the difficulties in interpreting the album is that singer Russell Allen shifts his tone of voice to suit the mood of the song, not to denote a change in speaker. Thus, key passages that blend characters’ voices on the album further emphasize the deconstruction of good and evil introduced through the extrapolated narrative and challenge the traditional gender roles presented in the source text. I conclude that within Symphony X’s writing and performances of Paradise Lost, the combination of performative genders challenges the politics of both the source text and the album’s cultural context, i.e. that of heavy metal.

Author(s):  
Brian J. Willoughby ◽  
Spencer L. James

This chapter provides an overview of emerging adults’ views on gender and gender roles. The authors describe their findings regarding who emerging adults believe benefits more from marriage, men or women. Little consensus seemed to exist regarding how emerging adults viewed the connection between gender and marriage; the authors propose that this is a reflection of our current culture, which continues to move toward gender neutrality and the dismissal of gender differences. The authors also explore how emerging adults believe gender roles will play out in their own marriages. A specific paradox whereby emerging adults aspire to an egalitarian role balance yet tend to end up in traditional gender roles is discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-81
Author(s):  
Hilde Rustad

Abstract This article examines issues related to age and gender within the European contact improvisation community (ECIC). In particular, my research interest is to find out more about experiences related to values in the dance genre of contact improvisation (CI), and how they relate to the values associated with democracy understood to be embedded in CI. From 2014 to 2017, I conducted interviews with seven persons who are CI dancers and teachers from different European countries. The interview material shows that a double set of values is communicated in the ECIC: one that is taught, spoken, written and understood to be holding on to and embodying ’the social ideologies of the early ’70s which rejected traditional gender roles and social hierarchies’ (Novack, 1990, 11) and a second set in which traditional gender roles and social hierarchies are active and experienced by European CI dancer-teachers and dancers when participating in CI events.


2020 ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Michelson and

Prejudice against transgender people is often linked to traditional or even toxic conceptualizations of gender and gender identity and particularly to norms and expression of masculinity. Attitudes toward transgender people and rights are deeply divided by gender, with lower levels of support among men, and also by attitudes about traditional gender roles. Two experiments provide evidence that among men, threats to masculinity generate greater opposition to transgender people and rights while reassurances of masculinity generate greater support, particularly for support of transgender military service. Consistent with expectations, women who are exposed to information threatening or reassuring them of their femininity tend not to be affected.


Author(s):  
Talia Gukert

This paper examines the significance of post-apocalyptic narratives as a means of expressing deep-seated anxieties about colonialism, capitalism, and cultural erasure in Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning. By viewing the novel through an ecofeminist lens, I seek to illuminate and explain the political changes Roanhorse’s post-apocalyptic world, and how this new environment allows for the transformation of social and gender structures of power. The theory of ecofeminism relies upon the belief that both women and nature are equally compromised and exploited by the patriarchy, constrained by the masculine forces of colonialization and capitalism. By situating her novel in a post-apocalyptic environment, Roanhorse implies that just as the earth has asserted its power over the effects of unrestricted capitalism through the consequences of global warming, Indigenous women have similarly taken back their powers of autonomy, liberating themselves from traditional gender roles. This paper shows how the connection between women and nature is most evident in the novel’s female protagonist, Maggie, who has been able to aggressively deviate from traditional gender norms and expectations due to the apocalypse. Through this complete reversal of common gender tropes in post-apocalyptic literature, Roanhorse demonstrates that the apocalypse has proven to be instrumental in freeing women from the constraints of gender roles, advocating the ecofeminist view that cooperation between women and nature is necessary for the liberation of both.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412098408
Author(s):  
Kate Haddow

This article addresses the complexities of being a female ethnographer studying an all-male group, as well as the advantages and the effects this had on the researcher. It draws on research undertaken for a doctoral research project, employing ethnography and semi-structured interviews to explore ‘hidden’ food insecurity in the town of Middlesbrough, with predominantly male participants. The existing literature surrounding research and gender addresses the problems associated with gender differences in the field such as fitting in, sexualisation and sexist treatment and confinement to traditional gender roles. This research highlighted many problems associated with being a female ethnographer but that ultimately gender was beneficial in gaining and maintaining access to the field. It concludes by arguing for academia to develop the notion of ‘hidden ethnography’, alongside a recognition that researchers should be supported emotionally in problems they face in the field.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (Fall 2018) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Dean Keith Simonton

Although a large body of empirical research has shed considerable light on the attainment of eminence in psychology, this literature has focused almost exclusively on samples of eminent males. Yet there is sufficient reason to expect that eminent female psychologists do not neces- sarily follow the same life and career pathways as do eminent male psychologists. To help rem- edy this deficiency, the current historiometric study concentrates on a sample of 80 eminent female psychologists born between 1847 and 1950. After obtaining three reliable eminence measures, variables were defined with respect to family background (parental occupations and sibling configurations), marriage and children (including divorce), education and career devel- opment (especially the attainment of higher degrees and full professorships), and professional contributions (to 20 different specialty areas). Even after controlling for potential artifacts due to year of birth and reference source, statistically and substantively significant correlations were found in all four sets of variables. Even though the pattern of findings sometimes closely paral- leled what was found for eminent male psychologists, other times the results strongly diverged. Because these divergences most likely reflected traditional gender roles and gender-biased pol- icies, female and male routes to eminence should progressively converge over time, if they have not done so already. Finally, some findings based on this all-female sample deserve empirical examination in comparable male samples.


Author(s):  
Лейла Хадем Махсус Хоссейни ◽  
Leyla Hadem Mahsus Hosseyni

The paper investigates the effects of cultural globalization and interaction on Iranian women’s identity construction. It aims to illuminate the possible sustaining of traditions in the construction of modern identities. The views are grounded on Giddens’ definition of the concept of “reflexivity” as the agents’ capacity in making revisions on their practices to construct new identities in light of new information. Iranian women within the global network are subject to new information and therefore are able to reflexively construct new identities. Amid various influential factors on identity construction, here, the function of “religion” and “gender roles” are examined to see the place of these traditionally significant elements in the identity of modern women. The items of “hijab” and “consumerism” are considered to address the issue of religion. Moreover, the concept of “motherhood” is traced in identity of modern women to reveal the probability of representation of traditional gender roles in their modern identities. It is found that Iranian women are not passive users of globalized culture, rather they make a balance between their traditional and modern identity.


Author(s):  
Gloria Sweida ◽  
Cynthia L. Sherman

In one of the first studies to examine how positive affect, negative affect, gender, and gender roles interact with entrepreneurial intention, we conducted an online survey of 849 adults from the western, midwestern, and southern regions of the United States. A higher positive affect was associated with greater intention to start a business, however, lower levels of negative affect were not. As in previous studies, women showed less entrepreneurial intention than men, however, the presence of positive affect had a larger positive impact on women’s entrepreneurial intention than men’s. Contrary to expectations, acceptance of traditional gender roles interacted with entrepreneurial intention such that women’s entrepreneurial intention increased as their support of traditional gender roles increased, and for men, entrepreneurial intention decreased slightly as acceptance of traditional gender roles increased.


Author(s):  
Coralia A. Quintero-Rojas ◽  
Lari A. Viianto

In Latin America, labor market indicators still show large gender gaps in access to opportunities and rights. These inequalities persist despite various policy efforts because they emanate from a social system that reproduces stereotypes and gender roles. This contradicts the development vision of the United Nations and the ILO: “Without gender equality, sustainable development is neither development nor sustainable”. This contribution focuses on the impact of social norms on women's decisions, regarding career choice and labor participation. To this end, we have built and simulated an agent-based model. The model assumes that gender roles are acquired and reproduced through the environment that surrounds women. The results of this social simulation suggest that the environment greatly influences the perception of women about the roles they must assume and the areas in which they must play, so it is pertinent to design policies aiming to change the conceptions of identity and traditional gender roles, since the construction and adoption of new and more equitable values is in part acquired through the imitation of the behavior observed in a woman's environment.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Grigat ◽  
Gregory Carrier

Joan of Arc has exercised a hold on the imagination, both medieval and modern, far exceeding her limited military achievements. It is perhaps for this reason that the trial of Joan on charges of heresy, culminating in her conviction and execution, is typically interpreted in a cynical light. The primary theme of the literature is that the she was brought to trial and convicted for challenging the institutionalized power of state and church. The issue of gender transgression, which is repeated throughout the transcripts of Joan’s trial, is either ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. It is typical of the medieval narrative that belief systems no longer accepted today are not taken seriously, and this is done through reducing them to familiar categories. This paper aims to take the trial of Joan of Arc seriously by arguing that Joan really was a heretic because she was different from orthodox Christians in that she transgressed traditional gender roles. This issue played a major role in Joan’s trial and one can scarcely read two paragraphs of the record without issues of gender transgression being raised and denounced. Furthermore, gender transgression was explicitly identified as amounting to heresy, and theological arguments were given by learned experts to justify this connection. This is not to deny that Joan was a heretic on other grounds; her obstinate refusal to submit herself to the Church militant and insistence on her ability to interpret her own revelations are crucial issues. Likewise, we do not intend to deny the political aspect of her trial, but rather to argue that the defense and reinforcement of traditional authority structures cannot be demarcated from the issue of heresy and gender transgression.


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