Women's Studies 1021F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Jane Austen, Teleology, Heterosexuality
23 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
We tend to think of sexuality as ahistorical i. e. as being outside of history, as never changing. However, sexuality, as with all human activity, is embedded in the historical. Erotic practices, identities and sexual acts, have signified differently at different times. History as archeology rather than as teleology nature. It is more productive to think of it as layered rather than as linear. We tend to think of the history of sexuality as a progress narrative, from oppression to liberation, from ignorance to knowledge, and from non-identity to identity. However, we need to question this narrative, and to show how the past can sometimes surprise us, and help us question our assumptions about the present. Gender and sexuality in the early 19th century. Jane austen creates strong, independent women, e. g. elizabeth of pride and. Prejudice, but they are always ultimately in search of a husband, and confirm the social order.
