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Wagner College Forum for
Undergraduate Research
Spring 2013
Volume XI, Number 2
��EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
The Wagner Forum for Undergraduate Research is an interdisciplinary journal which
provides an arena where students can publish their research. Papers are reviewed with
respect to their intellectual merit and scope of contribution to a given field. In the past the
journal has been broken into three distinct sections entitled The Natural Sciences, The
Social Sciences and Critical Essays. This issue experiments with a new look. It presents
the papers without any subdivisions for more continuity.
Read on and enjoy!
Gregory J. Falabella, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
Editorial Board
Dr. Miles Groth, Psychology
Prof. Andy Needle, Art
Dr. Lauren O'Hare, Nursing
Dr. Peter Sharpe, English
Dr. Donald E. Stearns, Biological Sciences
Dr. Lori Weintrob, History
��Table of Contents
1
The Transmission, Co-Occurrence, and Impact of Family Violence: Case Studies of
the Dynamics of Intimate Partner, Child, and Animal Abuse
Courtney Heiserman
39 The Nude Female Body Redefined
Jessica Makwinski
56 “O serpent under femynynytee:” Patriarchal Power as Shown through Female
Competition and the Madonna-Whore Binary in Chaucer’s The Man of Law’s Tale”
Rachel Zaydak
64 The Economic Role in Shaping the Modern Egyptian Family
Pakinam Mekki
70 Gustav Klimt: An Artist’s Evolution Through Freud’s Stages of Consciousness
Erik Arntzen
83 Female or Not? Relational Aggression, Mixed Gender Messages and Disability
Limitations
Danielle Lucchese
92 Commodifying the Gothic in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Michael Garamoni
��The Transmission, Co-Occurrence, and Impact
of Family Violence: Case Studies of the Dynamics
of Intimate Partner, Child, and Animal Abuse
Courtney Heiserman (Sociology and Psychology)1
The research surrounding intimate partner violence has recently focused on the various
dynamics of violence within families, how and why it occurs, and what can be done to
prevent and/or stop it within particularly violent families. Specific topics of interest
include the intergenerational transmission of violence within families, the co-occurrence
of intimate partner violence with other forms of family violence, the behavioral impact
that witnessing and being a victim of abuse has on children, and the influence that
children witnessing the abuse has on a victim’s decision to leave. Current literature on
these topics is reviewed, and four case studies of intimate partner violence are presented.
The experiences of the four survivors featured in the case studies are synthesized with
research and theories, and the dynamics of violence within families is analyzed and
discussed with emphasis on ending the cycle of violence.
I. Introduction
Violence within families is a common social issue within societies, yet it is often
overlooked or swept under the rug, deemed to be a ‘family problem,’ and not something
in which others should meddle. However, intimate partner violence (IPV), as well as the
child and animal abuse that commonly co-occur with it, is in fact a social issue at its very
core, with growing research suggesting that it is passed down from parent to child, since
it affects the children who witness it. It is important to note that the term IPV is broader
than the more commonly used term ‘domestic violence.’ The term domestic violence
comes with connotations that the two partners in the relationship are living together in
some form of a domestic partnership. However, IPV is all encompassing in that it
includes everyone in an intimate relationship even if they do not live together, such as a
dating relationship.
An honors thesis written under the direction of Drs. John Esser and Jean Halley in partial
fulfillment of the Senior Program requirements.
1
1
�An analysis of any form of violence must begin with a discussion of its various
characteristics, so that one is better able to view it as it truly is: an exercise of power and
control. As Kimmel (2008) states, IPV is largely dependent upon the balance of power
present in a relationship. Typically, and not surprisingly, IPV is more prevalent in
relationships in which the male partner holds more power over the female partner.
Where the power is equal and both partners are able to share decisions, the rates of
violence are incredibly low. This is not to say that only men are the abusers in all
relationships; there has been a growing amount of research and theory in regards to this
particular misconception. Kimmel argues that men report abuse by their female partners
less often due to shame, humiliation, and social stigmas. He, referring to the work of
Kersti Yllo (1993), goes on to assert that there is a difference in the dynamic of abuse
between heterosexual partners, explaining that:
Men tend to use domestic violence instrumentally, for the specific
purpose of striking fear and terror in their wives’ hearts, to ensure
compliance, obedience, and passive acceptance of the men’s rule in the
home. Women, by contrast, tend to use violence expressively, to
express frustration or immediate anger – or, of course, defensively, to
prevent further injury. But rarely is women’s violence systematic,
purposive, and routine. (P. 335)
It should also be noted that IPV exists within LGBTQ relationships as well; a
recent survey found that gay men and lesbians are more likely to be victims of IPV than
of homophobic hate crimes (Kimmel 2008). However, the present analysis will focus
solely on instances of family violence within heterosexual relationships, partly due to the
noticeably different patterns of abuse in hetero- versus homo- sexual relationships, and
also partly due to the lack of research surrounding the crossover and dynamics of
different types of family violence in male-female couples, let alone the LGBTQ
community.
For the purpose of clarity, the terms ‘abuser’ and ‘batterer’ will be applied
toward the male in the relationship, while terms such as ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’ will be
used when referring to the female in the relationship. This is not a generalization made
out of ignorance, but rather one made, once again, for purposes of clarity and the ability
to better analyze the existing literature. Statistics support the theory that women are more
often the victims to men’s family violence. Kimmel (2008) recounts that:
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�The gender imbalance of intimate violence is staggering. Of those
victims of violence who were injured by spouses or ex-spouses, women
outnumbered men by about nine to one. Eight times more women were
injured by their boyfriends than men were injured by girlfriends….
Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the
nation, claiming nearly four million victims a year. Between one-third
and one-half of all women are assaulted by a spouse or partner at some
point during their lives. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of all
women who are murdered are murdered by a husband or a boyfriend,
according to the FBI. Every six minutes a woman in the United States
is raped; every eighteen seconds a woman is beaten, and every day four
women are killed by their batterers. (P. 328)
The numbers are astounding, especially in a country that prides itself on freedom, liberty,
justice and equality. However, the United States has some of the highest rates of rape,
IPV, and spousal murder in the industrialized world (Kimmel 2008). It is clear that
within American society, IPV has become an instrument through which men are able to
assert their power and control over the ‘lesser’ sex, simultaneously proving their
manhood and attempting to gain control over what they believe is rightfully theirs. As
Kimmel so elegantly states, “the numbers alone [should] tell the story…. From early
childhood to old age, violence is the most obdurate, intractable behavioral gender
difference” (2008:315).
II. Literature Review
One of the most important aspects of the dynamic of abuse within intimate
relationships was explained when the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (1984)
developed their now-famous and widely used Power and Control Wheel (Appendix A).
Based on months of focus groups, the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project created the
Wheel to symbolize the most common tactics abusers employ when dominating their
victims. The sections, or spokes, within the Wheel are the methods with which batterers
utilize their power and control. These tactics include using coercion and threats,
intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, economic abuse, using children, male privilege,
minimizing, denying, and blaming. The rim around the outside of the Wheel contains
physical and sexual violence, which serves as a barrier holding in and keeping together
all of the other tactics. This visual aid has become an extremely popular tool of IPV
3
�service professionals, and therefore has been adapted into other Wheels for dating
violence and LGBTQ relationships. It was one of the first pieces of theory that truly
focused on the tactics of power and control as signifiers and causes of IPV, as opposed to
theories involving alcoholism, poverty, family violence, or victim and abuser personality
types.
Gortner et al. (1997) advanced the field of IPV research by studying and refuting
the traditional myths regarding victims of violent intimate partners and why they do or do
not leave. Common belief insisted that IPV victims rarely leave their abusive husbands
(or partners), are passive and self-defeating, and usually leave due to physical abuse. By
utilizing interviews, coding systems, inventories, questionnaires, and scales, Gortner et al.
were able to dispel all three of these clinical fallacies by utilizing data from 60 couples
who reported severe husband-to-wife violence from Jacobson et al.’s 1994 study.
The first myth was that IPV victims are unlikely to leave their husbands (or
partners). However, after a five-year follow-up with participants, the researchers asserted
that over half of the couples separated or divorced, with the wife initiating the split in
every instance. When factoring in that the lifetime divorce rate is 50%, Gortner et al.
suggest that most victims do leave at some point and usually do not return.
The second myth stated that victims are usually passive and self-defeating,
which was also shown to be incorrect. Results illustrated that the women who were most
intolerant of their husbands’ abuse at initial testing were the wives who were most likely
to leave by the follow-up visit. Gortner et al. eloquently summarize that “women who
were more likely to leave showed remarkably courageous levels of assertion in an
environment where such behavior contains enormous risks” (1997:350).
Finally, the third myth stated that physical violence was the greatest predictor of
a victim leaving her abusive husband. In fact, the researchers found that emotional abuse
was a stronger predictor, an effect that they believed had to do with the initial pairing of
physical violence and emotional violence. Over time, the abuser simply emotionally
abuses the victim while still controlling her, due to the potential risk of physical violence
associated with emotional abuse.
Another important finding regarding what causes a victim to leave a violent
situation came from Meyer’s (2010) study of IPV victims with children. Meyer found
that “While the involvement of unborn children (i.e., abusive experiences during
pregnancy) had no effect on victims’ help-seeking decisions, children who resided with
the victim and directly witnessed the abuse had the largest effect on all examined helpseeking decisions. Victims’ perception that their children had to witness any violent
4
�incidents even increased the likelihood of approaching sources that are usually
significantly underutilized, such as the police and refuges or transition homes” (p. 724).
Meyer questioned whether women seek help because they are aware of the effects
violence can have upon their children, or whether the violence had begun to be directed
towards the children. As was the case with Gortner et al., Meyer’s research helps to
dispel myths that wrongly paint mothers who experience IPV as irresponsible or
negligent parents.
Pollak’s (2004) intergenerational model of domestic violence (IMDV) further
explains the dynamics of abusive relationships in detailing how the propensity to act
violently within a relationship, or to stay in a violent relationship, is passed down from
parent to child. Within the explanation of his proposed theory, Pollak states that the
phrase ‘cycle of violence’ is common within the IPV literature, yet there are very limited
attempts by researchers to analyze how exactly this cycle occurs. Like most other
researchers and literature, he assumes that there is a specific pathway of transmission –
namely, that the probability of perpetrating or being the victim of IPV later in life is
dependent upon witnessing IPV within the person’s childhood family. He theorizes three
main assumptions of the IMDV:
The probability that a husband will be violent depends on whether he
grew up in a violent home. The probability that a wife will remain with
a violent husband depends on whether she grew up in a violent home.
Individuals who grew up in violent homes tend to marry individuals
who grew up in violent homes. (P. 311)
Pollack’s IMDV, while not perfect in its exclusion of important variables such
as economic, social, cultural, and policy factors, creates a very basic outline regarding the
transmission of violent tendencies within families. He further explains that the influence
of personal rational choices, in conjunction with economic, policy, and social or cultural
factors, alters the model. Regardless of its shortcomings, practitioners and researchers
can utilize the IMDV as a starting point for determining causes of IPV within
generationally violent families.
Levendosky et al. (2003) determined that although research has been done
regarding the effects of IPV upon children, most of these studies have suffered from
design problems regarding the sample size, lack of ethnic diversity, and inclusion of
shelter-only participants. Based upon existing research, Levendosky et al. sought to
answer four main hypotheses regarding: the effects of IPV on maternal psychological
5
�functioning, parenting, and attachment; the influence of mother-child variables on
children’s behavioral functioning; the effects of IPV, both directly and indirectly, on
children’s behavioral functioning through those mother-child variables; and the effects of
other variables, such as social support, life stress, and maternal childhood trauma, on
maternal psychological functioning. Levendosky et al. (2003) utilized 103 mother and
preschool-aged child pairs that were diverse in their ethnicities, education levels, and
incomes. They measured IPV, maternal childhood trauma, social support, life stress,
maternal psychological functioning, parenting, attachment, and children’s behavioral
functioning through various scales and questionnaires, as well as a 25-minute, videotaped
play-interaction between mother and child.
The researchers found support for an attachment theory framework, explaining
that IPV was directly related to attachment, parenting effectiveness, and maternal
psychological functioning. “The current study may reflect [a] compensation for the
violence by more attention and responsiveness to the child, which could be reflected both
in the mother’s parenting and in her child’s attachment to her” (Levendosky et al.
2003:282). They alternatively hypothesized that those results also may have stemmed
from a defensive response to parenting questions, allowing the mother to feel like a better
parent in spite of the occurrence of violence within the family. Furthermore, they found
that “effective and authoritative parenting was positively associated with the child’s
attachment to the mother” (2003:284). In conjunction with Meyer’s findings that showed
women will be more likely to leave if their children witness the abuse, the research
justifies that victims of IPV with children are not neglectful parents, as many people
commonly assume, but rather that they compensate for the violence as best they can and
are likely to leave when the violence directly affects their children.
Letourneau, Fedick, and Willms (2007) explain that recent research such as
Levendosky et al.’s suggests that “mothers of preschool-age children exposed to domestic
violence may be more sensitive and responsive to their children than other parents” (p.
649). Furthermore, other research has found that there is an over-representation of
preschool-aged children under five years of age in households in which women
experience IPV. Due to these findings and other gaps in the literature, Letourneau et al.
hypothesized that mothers who experienced IPV will differ in their reported parenting
behaviors (positive discipline, warm and nurturing parenting, and consistent parenting)
from mothers who have not experienced IPV. The researchers utilized data from the
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), detailing which
responses they interpreted for their analysis of parenting behaviors. They also
6
�determined predictors and covariates such as exposure to IPV, social support, family
function, maternal depression, maternal education and socioeconomic status, and the
child’s sex.
Letourneau et al. (2007) found that mothers exposed to IPV initially scored
lower on all three parenting behavior scales, but that these behaviors changed over time.
Mothers whose children were exposed to IPV, in comparison to mothers whose children
were not exposed to IPV, exhibited a greater increase in positive discipline parenting
behaviors and a smaller decrease in warm and nurturing parenting behaviors. This data
supports other studies that found that “mothers exposed to domestic appear to
compensate in parent-child interactions by being very attentive and sensitive to their
children; in this case, with more Positive Discipline, Warm and Nurturing, and
Consistent parenting” (2007:656). Other results found that maternal depression
decreased levels of positive discipline, family dysfunction decreased the levels of all
three of the parenting behaviors, and maternal education and higher socioeconomic status
increased levels of consistent parenting. The researchers also determined that there was a
sex-based link within their findings, noting that:
Female children experience lower initial levels of Warm and Nurturing
parenting and higher initial levels of Positive Discipline than male
children, but a steeper increase in warmth and nurturance from their
mothers as the children age. Moreover, exposure to violence in
combination with being a female child produced less positive discipline
over time. (Letourneau et al. 2007:657).
Not only does IPV affect children because they witness violence within their
families and it impacts the roles of their parents, but there is also considerable research
surrounding the impact that violence has on children. Numerous studies have found that
children exposed to either child abuse, IPV, or both had higher levels of behavior
problems in adolescence than children who were not exposed to violence. Children who
witnessed IPV and were also the victims of child abuse were “more consistently at risk
for the entire range of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems investigated than
those who experienced only one form of violence exposure” (Moylan et al. 2010:59).
Specifically, females will more commonly exhibit internalizing behavior problems, such
as being withdrawn, anxious, and depressed, and/or having somatic complaints, while
males will more commonly exhibit externalizing behavior problems, such as delinquent
and aggressive behaviors.
7
�Once the intricacies of IPV are understood, one can begin to apply the same
concepts to the realms of other forms of abuse, such as child and animal abuse. “Women
are injured or humiliated by violent partners, children are abused or neglected by parents
or older siblings, and the elderly are maltreated or economically deprived by adult
children or grandchildren. Violence pervades families in our society” (Onyskiw 2007:8).
In each of these familial relationships, as diverse as they may be, the abuser has some
form of power and control over the abused. Due to this commonality, one can begin to
understand the connection that materializes between the various forms of family violence
and how they influence the dynamic of violent families. Onyskiw (2007) claims that one
type of family violence does not always exist detached from its other various forms, but
rather that they each act as red flags, signaling the possible existence of other forms of
violence within the same household.
Many researchers have concluded that many different forms of violence will
often take place within the same household, but the co-occurrence of IPV and child abuse
is the most commonly studied. McKay (1994) summarized in her compilation of past
research that 45-70% of women utilizing IPV shelter services report instances of child
abuse as well. Furthermore, McKay cites Stacey and Shupe (1983), who found that child
abuse is 15% more likely in families that experience IPV, as well as Stark and Flitcraft
(1988), who found that two-thirds of abused children have a mother who is also abused.
Child sexual abuse is another form of abuse that can also occur in conjunction
with IPV and is influenced by various factors. Avery, Hutchinson, and Whitaker (2002)
analyzed the case records of 570 children from a battered women and children’s agency
to determine the intergenerational rates of child sexual abuse. They found that 93% of
the children were exposed to IPV, 41% were physically abused, and 11% were sexually
abused. This statistic was much lower than the average base rate of child sexual abuse of
25%. However, if nonaffending parents (typically the mother) were sexually abused as
children, their children were 1.89 times more likely to also be sexually abused. Avery et
al. (2002) summarized:
Though nonaffending parents are not to blame for their children’s
abuse, there may be an empirical relationship between the two
variables. The current study seems to suggest an intergenerational link
in the incidence of childhood sexual abuse…. In a qualitative study
involving 40 women, Armsworth and Stronck (1999) found a
significant intergenerational effect on parenting skills, abilities, and
8
�attitudes of individuals who suffered child sexual abuse, especially
incest. Perhaps the intergenerational effects of child abuse can be
found in both the adaptations victims make in order to survive the
trauma and in the serious impact their experiences have on their
physical, intellectual, and emotional development. (P. 85)
There is also growing evidence that animal abuse commonly occurs in
conjunction with IPV and/or child abuse. Ascione (1998) conducted one of the most
widely referenced studies on this topic when he surveyed 38 women seeking shelter
services. He found that 71% of pet-owning women claimed that their partner had
threatened, hurt, or actually killed their pet, while 32% of women with children claimed
that one of their children had hurt or killed a pet. This statistic may reinforce the research
that suggests witnessing abuse may increase a child’s chances of developing behavioral
problems. Expanding upon previous research, Carlisle-Frank, Frank, and Nielsen (2004)
determined that 48% of IPV victims delayed seeking help because they were concerned
for their pets and 25% of them returned to the abuser because of their pets. Very few IPV
shelters allow animals, leaving the victim with few options for protecting their pets, who
are arguably thought of as members of the family.
When considering all of this research, it seems as if there are certain trends that
occur within violent families. Namely, IPV tends to be transmitted intergenerationally
through families; it also commonly co-occurs with animal abuse, child abuse and child
sexual abuse; witnessing and/or experiencing abuse increases the likelihood of behavior
problems in children; being a victim of abuse affects the way women parent; and finally,
the presence of children who witness the abuse increases the likelihood of a woman
leaving a violent situation. Through a series of in-depth case studies, these hypotheses
will be tested and the dynamics of violence within families will be analyzed.
III. Methods
Data was collected through in-depth interviews with four survivors of IPV.
They were all female, yet varied in age, ethnicity, marital status, and socioeconomic
status. The small sample size was chosen to obtain a more rich and thorough case study
analysis of IPV in relation to other family dynamics. Specifically, there was a focus on
children either witnessing or being the victim of abuse and the impact it had on them, as
well as the presence of violence with other family members. The validity of having a
larger sample size was sacrificed to achieve more qualitative and personalized stories
9
�from the survivors interviewed, as a means of truly hearing the voice of a survivor, as
opposed to statistically analyzing more quantitative results. While the methods of the
current study may offer a more detailed look into the family dynamics surrounding IPV,
it did have flaws as well. In addition to the lowered validity of a study of only four
participants, the experiences of each survivor proved to be unique and dense, making
them difficult to condense and relate to one another. However, the synthesis of all four
case studies provided an interesting cross-section of the ways in which IPV affects family
dynamics.
The survivors were found through referrals from urban victim’s service
advocates and agencies in a large city in the northeast region of the United States. A
general protocol, confidentiality form, and interview question list were handed out to
advocates who attended meetings focused on IPV, who were then given the opportunity
to clarify any details with the researcher. Advocates later passed on the contact
information of their interested clients to the researcher. After agreeing to a meeting,
survivors read and signed the confidentiality form that explained the nature of the
interview and its intended use (Appendix B). The form stated that names would be
changed, along with any other details that may lead the survivor to be identified, such as
age, location, and occupation. They were also given the option to tell the researcher what
additional details they wanted changed or omitted at that time or during the process of the
interview. The researcher asked for permission to sound record the interview, as a means
of focusing on the conversation and allowing for the freedom to take more detailed notes
at a later time, and all participants agreed. At any point during the interview the survivor
had the option of pausing or stopping the interview altogether, to allow for autonomy and
comfort when speaking about their traumatic experiences.
The interviews were held in a private and casual setting in an IPV advocacy
agency. If travel was an issue, the researcher offered to conduct a phone interview, but
no one needed to accept this offer. At the start of the interview, survivors were
encouraged to speak freely about their experiences, which happened without much
prompting. While the researcher did have a general interview guideline (Appendix C),
the conversations flowed more naturally, allowing for the survivors’ comfort and ease in
telling their stories. The interview guideline contained questions such as “How did the
violence begin?,” “When and how did the violence affect your children?,” and “How did
you seek assistance?” Questions aimed at clarifying or elaborating on specific details
were inserted when necessary. Specific clarification questions utilized were “How did
your child respond to witnessing that violence?,” “Were you married at this point in the
10
�relationship?,” and “Were you aware of the violence between other family members at
the time?” Because the interviews were all sound recorded, the researcher did not take
notes concurrently with the interview and could instead focus on creating rapport and
understanding all aspects of the survivors’ stories.
Following the interviews, the recordings were transcribed, both in general points
and direct quotes, at the discretion of the researcher. Recordings were then deleted from
both the recording device and the personal computer on which they were stored. The
interviews were developed into case studies to assist in the explanation of the family
dynamics surrounding IPV; the case studies specifically focused on the intergenerational
transmission of violence, the co-occurrence with other forms of family violence, its
impact on children, and the victims’ decisions to leave. The researcher paid particular
attention to variables such as the presence of children during violent situations, the
history of IPV in the survivor’s own family, the behavior of children who witnessed or
experienced abuse, and the changes in the family dynamic before, during, and after the
survivor was in the abusive relationship.
IV. Results
Case Study 1 – Janet
Janet’s story of abuse began 35 years ago when she met her current ex-husband
Harry. She had been married and divorced already with three-year-old twins, and that
first marriage had also been abusive. Janet and Harry knew each other from around the
neighborhood, and began seeing each other while he was still married to another woman.
They did not live together or get married immediately, but his controlling and abusive
behaviors escalated as time went on. Due to Janet’s past, she was raised with the
assumption that gender roles were rigid and wives were submissive and obedient.
“One of his biggest things was, ‘A husband comes home from work
and there’s no dinner on the table?! You piece of garbage,’ c-word,
everything, before he left in the morning. And he still expected dinner
on the table because I did it for years. I mean really, I was abused to
the point where, if he did something horrible, the next night we would
have sex. I hate to say it but that’s what I did. And he can’t even
11
�imagine that I don’t want to go near him. You know, when I see what
happened in my life, I see that I was brought up like that. I catered to
him, I used to lay out his clothes, iron them, pick them out for him
because he was colorblind. I was brought up to be like that. My father
was an alcoholic, and my mother was like that. So I thought that’s
what you did. My mother did that and we all thought that’s what you
do. Harry’s definitely a narcissist. Even when we went to therapy at a
marriage counselor, the therapist told me, ‘Your husband is a
narcissist,’ just by talking to him. But, you know, I thought I was in
love. And then he always belittled me, made me feel like I was
horrible. I was his Stepford Wife.”
Not only was Janet controlled by Harry’s expectations of her, but she was also
financially dependent on him, having to ask for money and explain what she spent it on.
Janet eventually got custody of her daughter’s young son, Zachary, due to her daughter’s
drug addiction. Because of Zachary’s connection to his grandfather and his need for
stability, Janet could not leave.
“But then I got custody of Zachary, my grandson, eight years ago. My
twin daughter was a drug addict, and she still is. And I still took it,
because Zachary loved him. I mean, he is good to Zachary, but you
don’t talk like that to me in front of Zachary. You don’t do that. And I
was still so scared to leave. What am I going to do? I’ve always had
somebody my whole life. I worked for awhile but mainly he took care
of everything, and the thought of just being on my own – I was scared.”
Harry understood the complex relationship between Janet and her daughter,
utilizing it against her as he wanted. He realized that even Janet’s grown children wanted
a father figure in their lives and he would give them things or side with them in
arguments to be on their good side, casting Janet in a bad light in the process.
“My husband didn’t support me in my situation with my daughter.
‘You call the cops. You do this.’ I was put in a position to be strong
for Zachary. I didn’t see it when I had my children, but I’m not going
to be guilty about that. I was in a situation, it was wrong, I stayed, my
kids were young too, but I had a chance to do it again. He always tried
to make me the bad guy and always wanted to be their friend. But they
12
�took it as him being weak, because he let them get away with things.
He’s my daughter’s best friend when she’s doing drugs, because he
wants to be the hero. He needs credit for everything.”
Because Janet’s daughter was on drugs when she was pregnant with Zachary, he
has behavioral, sensory, and speech problems, which require him to have a strict schedule
and diet, something that Harry rarely abided by. Harry used this form of bribery with
Zachary as well, although Janet thinks he always knew what was going on even though
he was so young.
“He used to act up when my husband was around, and turn on me,
because he knew he would get away with it, talking to me like that and
be fresh whenever I was there with my husband. Harry would protect
him and he was testing me. I still wouldn’t let him not get a time out. I
was persistent with him. He told his teacher, ‘Grandma gives me time
outs because she loves me.’ He tests you. Kids do that, definitely.”
It was apparent that Zachary wanted his grandparents to be happy together, and
Janet felt bad for sending him mixed signals. When he would make them lie in bed
together and show affection towards one another they would humor him, but she never
felt comfortable lying to him. Even though Harry never physically abused Janet’s
children or Zachary, they all witnessed the verbal abuse and degradation, which later
caused behavioral problems with Zachary. One specific incident stayed in Zachary’s
mind for years.
“I knew something was bothering him right after this happened,
because he had to leave his school because he was having emotional
problems. He was hitting teachers. He was doing so many horrible
things. We didn’t really realize why. One night my husband was
upstairs with Zachary. He was holding him and it was time for bed.
Zachary has structure, he has a lot of things he has to do because of his
problems, and it was time for bed and he was giving him something
sweet. I had done an organic diet. You have to do certain things and
you have to be strict about it. And he would always go against me. So
I told Zachary, ‘Come on, you have to go to bed now.’ He looked at
Harry and said ‘Grandpa I want to stay’ but it was late. So I said
‘Harry come on, we have to put him to bed.’ And he started flipping
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�out with Zachary in his hands. He threw me on the bed while Zachary
was in his arms and watching the whole thing.”
It was not until two years later, when Zachary told this story to his therapist, that
Janet understood that experience to be the root of the behavioral problems that forced him
to change schools.
“He told his therapist and she called me and she said, ‘Zachary wants to
tell you something.’ He said, ‘Grandma I remember that day when
Grandpa threw you on the bed.’ That was inside him and bothering
him for so long. I don’t think Harry was a danger to Zachary in any
way except in front of me, with him, that kind of thing. He would
never physically hurt Zachary. Emotionally he did and he wouldn’t
look at that in that way. But I’ve moved on from that.”
When Janet began to realize that she had to leave, Harry caught on and
continued to use her children to undermine her even more. He utilized her daughter’s
addiction to become close with her, even though her presence in the house was a danger
to Zachary. Even when Janet’s daughter would be in the house using drugs and there was
a risk of her son seeing her high, Harry would do everything in his power to get Janet’s
daughter on his side.
“He knew that I didn’t want to be with him anymore. I was in the
process of really thinking about getting out of there. So he became
friends with my daughter. He always did that though. She was the
addict and she was his best friend, and if she did something, I was the
one that was disappointed and the bad guy. And he would tell her
horrible things. I was bad, raising her son wrong, whatever, in front of
Zachary.”
One night in particular served as the catalyst for Janet’s final decision to leave.
Harry made an excuse for why he was going to be out late, as was common, but also
proceeded to tell Janet that he was turning his cell phone off, which he rarely did. Janet
was suspicious but still had a big dinner waiting on the table when he got home.
“When he walked in I had dinner ready and I smelled perfume. But I
let him eat his dinner before saying anything. When I did ask him
about it, he flipped out like you can’t imagine, because I dare accuse
14
�him of anything like that. And he took all the clothes and threw them
all over the place. ‘You pick them up!’ That whole bit, I went through
that for years and years. And I was devastated because I was taking
care of my sick cousin at the time and he was telling people ‘Oh she’s
so good’ and then he goes and does something like that, and it just did
something to me. I said, ‘No, I can’t do it anymore.’ So really from
that time on I knew I couldn’t be with him anymore. And he’s going
berserk because he doesn’t think he did anything wrong. He doesn’t
realize that what he did was horrible. Horrible. And I wasn’t keeping
Zachary there to know or think that’s how you treat people.”
Even though her sisters wanted her to leave immediately, Janet did not think that
would be best for Zachary, and created a plan that would get her out of the house, on her
own terms. Although it took a long time and it was tough, she eventually succeeded in
leaving Harry in the exact way she had planned.
“For seven years after my cousin died, I started, whatever money I had,
to put it away. I started putting it away because I knew I had a plan. I
couldn’t do it without the plan. I couldn’t bring Zachary to a shelter,
although I was thinking about it. Maybe I would lose him. So I
avoided Harry, I tried not to be there when he was there, and if he was
there I wouldn’t interact with him or anything. I finally got real estate.
I found an apartment. You have no idea how perfect everything is now.
You have no idea, the freedom and the peace. So I got an apartment
and I thought Zachary was going to have problems with it because his
mom and dad left him and now his grandfather isn’t around, even
though he loved him, but he has the peace too. He has the peace too.”
Case Study 2 – Danielle
Danielle’s story of abuse differs from the other case studies in that it centers on
childhood sexual abuse and addiction, which were both transmitted intergenerationally
through her family. Danielle’s father, a pedophile who began molesting her while she
was still in diapers, was the son of a brutal alcoholic who most likely molested him. Her
mother’s mother died when she was nine, at which point her father dropped her off at a
convent. Danielle’s mother admitted to her that she had been sexually assaulted in her
15
�past, but refused to give details, claiming that ‘We don’t talk about old things,’ a trend of
covering up the unhappy truths that continued throughout Danielle’s whole life.
“My older brother and sister, and then my brother-in-law, all abused me
as well. They were doing what was done to them. And then when I
was 15 it escalated from my father just coming in my room at night and
forcing me to perform oral sex on him, to threatening to kill me if I told
when he brutally raped me and left me in my bed beat up.”
Danielle had turned to alcohol and drugs when she was 11-years-old, to cope
with the sexual abuse from her various family members, and by the time her father raped
her she was well into addiction. Her addictions included alcohol and cocaine, and she
also shifted back and forth between anorexia and overeating. Her father was incredibly
manipulative and did a remarkable job of isolating Danielle from her mother and siblings.
His isolation, emotional abuse, and degradation can undoubtedly be considered the
grooming behaviors seen in many pedophiles.
“My father would take me out of the house, pretend to give me special
attention, give me chocolate bars. We would come home and my
siblings would hate me because I was getting special attention. I think
I was isolated the most, being the youngest, but the probability that it
was happening to everyone at some point is high. It was very clear that
you don’t talk about incest in my family. There was nowhere to go.
He would give me extra food at the diner table to keep my mouth shut.
After choking me in the basement I’d have to sit next to him and eat
and pretend everything was nice. So I just stopped eating at one point.
That was my only power. Then I got to be 200 pounds. It’s been a lot
of work to survive this family.”
Her parents’ relationship itself was incredibly strained, and Danielle often had to
act as the gofer for them. This furthered her father’s ability to utilize her relationship
with him to his advantage. Danielle describes her mother as turning a blind eye to the
incest that was occurring in the family, but she was incredibly vigilant when it came to
other people. Along with the incest and constant denial that anything bad was happening,
there was also an overwhelming trend of alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental health
problems throughout her entire family.
16
�“My father was awful towards my mother. They hated each other. But
she was dedicated to him. So dedicated that she died on his birthday.
They were always just horrible. I was in the middle, so it was always
‘Go tell your mother’ or ‘Go tell your father.’ He wouldn’t talk to her,
he would talk about her, and they didn’t sleep in the same room. My
father’s alcoholism was periodic. My mother was so tough that she
wouldn’t let him drink. The first drink that I ever had was given to me
by my father when my mother was out shopping. He snuck a drink out
and I caught him so he said, ‘Have some and don’t tell your mother.’ I
was little and it was always all these secrets that I had to keep from my
parents. I was pulled out of line from my mother very young by my
abuser. I had to love him to survive. I had to do whatever he wanted to
survive. The mind games were incredible and she was just out to
lunch. She was not helpful, but look where she came from: a convent.
My mother was very careful with us in other ways, with other people.
But not with her own husband. She made sure we didn’t have
sleepovers, because she didn’t want us to be sexually abused, because
she knew she had been sexually abused. But she was looking in the
wrong direction.”
The family that Danielle grew up in affected the ways in which she related to
other men. She claims that she has never had a positive relationship, always picking men
who were inappropriate for her, either in the way they treated her, their age, or their own
addictions. She believes that never letting in a good and healthy person was her way of
never having to come to terms with her past.
“I married a guy who was in jail for raping a teenager and I just pawned
it off as ‘Oh the girl was loose.’ I believed him, because I hadn’t done
enough work on myself or my life to stay out of trouble with men. I
put up with a lot in the marriage. I went to nine therapists with him to
try to fix him, because I felt bad for him. The codependency is so
wrapped into all of this. I watched my mother protect and take care of
my father, who was an animal. And I repeated it.”
Danielle and her husband had a daughter together, who was born premature and
sick due to what Danielle explains as being unable to emotionally cope with being
pregnant. He was abusive to both her and her daughter throughout the relationship, but
17
�Danielle was still in such a state of deep codependency that she did not allow it to affect
her.
“He picked me up by the throat one time, and I’m embarrassed to say
this, but I just begged him not to leave me. It went back to my
childhood. Children that are abused attach to the abuser. I just
transferred that abuse and attachment to my ex-husband. And he
wasn’t the first, he was just the one I married.”
Eventually Danielle realized that she no longer wanted to raise her daughter in
such a violent situation and began the process of getting a divorce from her husband.
One night Danielle and her soon-to-be-ex-husband had to go to mediation, but her
babysitter cancelled at the last minute. Danielle’s 19-year-old nephew offered to watch
her two-year-old daughter while she was gone. Her nephew had been exposed to
Danielle’s father, his grandfather, and was also most likely molested by him in Danielle’s
opinion.
“I was so careful with my daughter. My nephew was working with my
ex-husband doing construction at the time, and he offered to stay with
her. That night at mediation my husband, and in several other different
therapy sessions with professionals, threatened to kill me. He told me
how he was going to blow my brains out and leave me dead and
bloodied. I just sat there, detached, looking at the books on the
therapist’s shelf, thinking he’s not going to do any of that. I went home
that night, told the kid to go home, and the next morning my daughter
clearly told me what happened. She pointed at her vagina, made a
gesture with her mouth, and said my nephew’s name. This is what
happens to women in domestic violence though – I was so shot and
disconnected from trying to survive and get him out of the house, that I
just didn’t address it, and that’s probably what my mother did too.”
Danielle eventually wrote to her nephew’s college and tried to talk to her family
about it, but they all shunned her for bringing it up at all. A few years later, Danielle’s
ex-husband had a phone conversation with his cousin that sparked memories. He realized
that his grandfather had abused him when he was six-years-old. Two weeks later,
Danielle’s ex-husband molested their six-year-old daughter during one of her visits.
Danielle’s daughter, now in her pre-teen years, is slowly beginning to understand the
18
�dynamics involved within their family, and having a mother with experience with
childhood sexual abuse helps her cope.
“She’s still angry. She’s still hurt. She doesn’t know how her dad
could hurt her. It’s ongoing and sometimes I want a break, but there’s
no break. I can’t say ‘It’s 9:30, it’s your bedtime. We can’t talk about
this now.’ So I have to lay with her and make her feel safe. She’ll ask
me ‘Did your dad ever do that to you? Dad choked me and then
watched The Simpsons. What kind of monster does that?’”
Due to their pasts with childhood sexual abuse, both Danielle and her daughter
have been affected greatly in their daily lives. Danielle has been sober for nearly two and
a half decades now, and has been in therapy to deal with her past as a victim of incest for
about eight years, which also helped to relieve her of her eating disorders. She credits
Eye Movement Desensitization Response Therapy (EMDR) with her recovery progress,
as it focuses on bringing the trauma to the surface and allowing her to ‘unfreeze.’
However, certain aspects of her life are slow to change.
“Trust issues and intimacy are so scary. Because I was so young when
the abuse started. And it went on for so long and no one ever
interfered. It really does affect every inch of your life. And people just
go, ‘Oh you were abused? Let it go. You still carry that around?’
They don’t get it. So I don’t share with a lot of people. And they’re
critical of me, why I don’t work full time, why I don’t have a better job.
I stopped trying to explain myself to people.”
Danielle’s daughter is also working through her recovery, which tends to affect
her through surges in memories and dreams, each feeding the other. Danielle is clearly
proud of how clever and open her daughter is with her, which has made the process easier
for the both of them, but understands the trauma that her daughter will have to work
through for the rest of her life.
“She feels different because she doesn’t have a dad. She wants me to
remarry so she can have a family, like every kid. In elementary school
she had a problem and the teacher called me and said ‘What happened?
She’s not herself today.’ I’m not about to tell the public school system
what’s going on, so I just had to say that she’s in counseling and her
dad isn’t in her life. But he wasn’t all bad like my dad. That’s what I
19
�have to tell my daughter too. ‘There were parts of daddy that were
good. We don’t have to hate.’ We’re moving towards not letting him
matter to her anymore. It’s not going to hurt as much. There will be
bumps but we’ll move on.”
Case Study 3 – Marlena
When Marlena first met her boyfriend Tommy, little things kept happening that
felt suspicious, but Tommy was always able to explain them away. He had just been
released from prison when he suddenly moved out of town and asked Marlena to go with
him. Once they were settled, he refused to get a job and told her he could not apply for
food stamps because his mother was already claiming him on hers. It was not until a
short while later that Marlena found out Tommy had another warrant out for his arrest,
which is why he fled and tried to remain off the radar. Even Marlena’s parents
disapproved of him from the beginning, and she claims that they must have sensed it all
along.
“When we were beginning, I noticed a few things with him. Like he
liked to drink a lot. We used to drink and smoke and everything, and I
would notice he would get a little hyper and stuff like that. He was a
totally different person drinking. He would accuse me of looking at
other guys and make up these scenarios in his head and I’d say, ‘I
wasn’t even thinking that. You have the craziest imagination.’ I was
thinking it was too much togetherness after we were living together. I
ended up getting fired from my job because he kept coming around,
picking me up, giving the manager dirty looks because he was talking
to me. I was like ‘Tommy, he’s my manager. He has to talk to me.’
When I would go pick up my checks – they were paying me cash there
– he’d want to hold it and I would never see my money again. It started
like that. When I would go out, even if I would go to a store, he used to
hide behind cars, and the store was literally only 50 feet away. He
would hide behind the cars, make sure nobody followed me.”
The controlling behavior continued to escalate, and eventually Marlena was not
even allowed to go to the bathroom or shower without Tommy following her. She had no
privacy or alone time. Tommy constantly believed she was cheating on him and would
verbally abuse her to lower her self-esteem and make her more vulnerable. Furthmore,
20
�he would always take the money Marlena earned or had saved and would spend it all in
one day. Eventually he began strangling her and throwing her against the wall,
sometimes with no warning or reason.
“I forget when was the first time he hit me. He hit me so much. One
time he strangled me so hard I had a bruise on my neck in the shape of
his hand for days. I never could go anywhere either because my family
would see the bruises and cuts.”
When his aggression started escalating, Marlena would fight back or try to
leave, but was never able to go far because he would follow her or go to every one of her
relatives’ houses to try to find her. As is common in IPV, Tommy would follow his
violence with gifts and apologies, a popular strategy that some theorize causes the victim
to associate the physical or emotional suffering with love and devotion.
“Every morning he would bring me breakfast, he would cook for me to
say sorry. Everyday, even if we didn’t argue, he would always bring
me a rose, or bring me a card, or write a note for me. He wrote me
poems and would try to make it up to me, selling me the stars and the
moon and everything. He was sweet in that sense, so maybe that kept
me thinking, ‘Well, maybe he is sorry.’ I had relationships before but
never like him. He can meet you and you’ll give him your car. He has
that talk. He’s extremely charming.”
Tommy further isolated Marlena, who was already on bad terms with most of
her family, by making her stay home and babysit his younger siblings. When they would
fight and he hit her, his older sister and mother, who they both lived with for awhile,
would never interfere. Marlena knows that both women were just as violent as Tommy,
and she believes that IPV is something that ran in the family. When one of Tommy’s
younger brothers tried to stop him from strangling her once, he received the brunt of
Tommy’s physical aggression.
“We just got into another argument. I don’t remember what it was
either. But me and him started fighting, like fist fighting, and his little
brother was there. His little brother started crying and was like
‘Tommy, stop! Tommy, stop!’ Tommy grabbed me by my neck,
picked me up, threw me on a deep freezer that we had, and started
21
�choking me. Tommy’s little brother hit him, and Tommy just pushed
him.”
Eventually, Marlena got pregnant, something that made Tommy extremely
excited. He knew she was pregnant weeks before she did, and even guessed that it was a
girl immediately. While Marlena was hopeful that this would spark a change in him, her
family was much less supportive.
“When I called my mom and my sister, my sister hung up on me and
my mom told me she was disappointed in me. The pregnancy was the
only time the physical violence almost stopped. He pushed me against
the wall twice, but he never hit my stomach. He used to force me to
have sex with him though, which I didn’t want to do because I was so
pregnant and uncomfortable. Even if I would cry he would tell me that
I had to because that’s what he wanted. He used to always tell me I
looked pretty when I cried. He was sick.”
Before Marlena gave birth to the baby, Tommy was arrested again. He wanted
to get married as soon as he was released, but Marlena began having doubts, which
caused Tommy to accuse her of cheating on him even more. She had their baby girl
while he was in jail and when he got out she bought him everything that he needed. He
took her help for granted and blew through her savings immediately. It was at this point
that she started thinking about the prospect of leaving him.
“I was looking for work because, again, he was holding the money. He
didn’t want to give me anything and he would complain about buying
diapers. I had about $2,000 saved and he spent it all. On what, I don’t
know. He spent it in a day. While he was in jail I had realized I didn’t
need his help for anything. When he got home he would not help me at
all. When it was time to change the diaper, he wouldn’t do it. He
didn’t want to give her a bath. He said ‘I feel awkward giving her a
bath because she’s a girl.’ So he really wouldn’t help me. He would
just teach her bad things. Babies soak up everything. He would teach
her to rock back and forth in her chair and I was like ‘Tommy, she’s
going to fall.’ I know he wants to have fun, but damn, teach her the
ABCs.”
22
�Marlena realized the source of Tommy’s constant suspicion of her cheating on
him when she found out that he had been sneaking around with other women behind her
back. One day she accidentally took his phone, which was identical to hers, when she
went to visit her family. While she was gone a girl called asking for Tommy, saying she
had met him the night before.
“I got home and told him I accidentally took his phone and he got
scared and said he was looking for it. And then it rang again with a
different number and a different girl’s name. I picked up and told him
to say hello but he wouldn’t. I said, ‘If you have nothing to hide you’re
going to talk.’ And he just said, ‘No. No.’ He started twisting my arm
behind my back, trying to grab the phone out of my hand. And my
daughter is in the crib and she starts screaming. So he was grabbing
my arm, twisting it back, and I was grabbing the phone. He snatched
the phone out of my hand, and he smacked me with it across my face.”
She took her daughter and left him to move back in with her parents. Since they
never liked or trusted Tommy, they set strict rules about not being in contact with him
and not allowing him in the house. One night after calling Marlena hundreds of times in
a row, he snuck into the house on his own. While they were fighting, Marlena’s mom
came into the room. Tommy lied to her and said that he had been invited, which she
believed. Marlena eventually got him to leave, but was kicked out of her parents’ house
regardless.
“I said, ‘Tommy get out.’ He wanted to grab his stuff but it was all
outside. I packed it. Every single shred of his clothes, anything that
was his. You know what he goes and takes? My daughter’s piggy
bank. It says My First Piggy Bank on it and I was filling it up for her.
He went and took the piggy bank and said, ‘This is mine. I’m leaving.’
I just thought, ‘He really took my daughter’s piggy bank? What a
bum.’”
Since Tommy convinced Marlena’s mom that she had snuck him in herself, they
were now both homeless. They got married immediately so that they could go to the
shelter as a family, but they did not end up staying. Their violent relationship continued
while they were living with Tommy’s aunt, and eventually their daughter got in the
middle of the physical violence.
23
�“Him and I started arguing. We started fighting. It was like five
o’clock in the morning and I was coming home from my job. We
started fist fighting and we were fighting into the bedroom. I got into
the room and I saw my daughter sitting up and whimpering. So I went
and picked her up and told him to get away from me. I started feeling
my daughter and she was hot as hell with a fever. I wanted to leave
with my daughter so I grabbed our bags. I had the baby on my right
side and he started hitting me on the left side. My daughter started
screaming and hugging me, while he was hitting me on one side. He
was like ‘Give me my daughter’ and was pulling her out of my hands.
I saw that he would hurt her so I just let him take her. She was crying
and grabbing onto me but he was pulling her. I thought he was going
to end up either pulling her really hard and hurting her or dropping her,
so I just let him take her. I couldn’t do that to my kid.”
The deciding factor to leave came when Tommy pushed Marlena down the stairs
so hard that her shoes fell off. Their daughter had become more and more involved in
their fights and it was no longer a safe place for her. The fighting had even began
affecting Marlena’s daughter’s behavior.
“One time when he pushed me I almost hit my daughter as I was
falling. Her playpen was there but I moved my hand and just fell onto
the floor. I ran into the kitchen then to get him away from her. He
would have blamed me if I fell into her. Even though he was the one
who was pushing me, it would have been my fault. She was around the
fighting too much and it affects her. My daughter used to never hit
people, but she started swinging and she was only one. She started
hitting. I opened my eyes after I had my baby and saw that he didn’t
change. I knew that after being in prison for a whole year, nothing’s
going to change him at all.”
After she left him, Marlena’s mother sent her to visit family out of the country
as a way to completely cut ties with him. When she got back she found out that he was
still claiming Marlena and their daughter on his food stamps, but was spending them on
his new girlfriend and her baby. Marlena asked him to buy a gallon of milk for their
daughter, which was much cheaper than the formula he was buying for his girlfriend’s
baby, but he refused. She eventually began getting storeowners who knew her well to
24
�charge her milk to his food stamps, because it was apparent that Tommy had completely
neglected his responsibilities to his daughter.
“My daughter had gotten sick while we were out of the country and I
asked him for twenty dollars to see the doctor and buy medicine
because I had nothing. He said, ‘No screw you. You left with my
daughter. Screw you and the baby.’”
When she saw Tommy and his girlfriend for the first time after she left, he tried
throwing Marlena in front of a car, causing a witness to call the cops. Even though she
had an order of protection against him, she did not have it on her and the cops refused to
try to find him. Eventually Tommy was arrested again, which gave Marlena enough time
to move and change her phone number to better distance herself and their daughter from
him.
“He used to tell me that if I left him he would throw acid on my face so
nobody would want me. He used to tell me he would stab me. Stuff
like that. He was crazy. I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to
be with him again. No matter how much I might think he changed,
he’s not. When I went to get my order of protection, she read me a list
of ten domestic violence signs and he had done each and every one of
them. I had never thought about it like that before. I thought everyone
fights. My mom and dad fought when I was growing up. But she’s the
one that pointed out how controlling he was and made me realize that
that’s domestic violence. I’m not trying to have my daughter see that at
all. I don’t want her growing up thinking it’s ok for a man to hit her. I
think I would not want that for my own daughter, so why would I want
it for myself? So that’s why I went back to school, and I’m working
two jobs. It’s hard, handling everything, but at the same time, it’s not
impossible. My child is worth it.”
Case Study 4 – Alana
When Alana first met her boyfriend Richard, they did not go on dates because of
their work schedules, so their relationship was confined to his house from the beginning.
When Alana was telling her mom about the man she had met, her mom was not happy
and warned Alana about the issues that could accompany dating older men.
25
�“I mentioned his age, which was 15 years older than I am, and my mom
was in a relationship like that where she dated someone with the same
age difference. She told me, ‘You’ve seen what I went through and
you know that it’s never a good idea to date someone that much older
than you are.’ Her relationship was abusive too. She met my stepdad
when I was about three-years-old and the abuse started when I was
nine, so I witnessed everything.”
Alana began to notice that Richard was very possessive of her and commonly
yelled at any other man who looked at her, even if she did not think anyone was looking
at her. His controlling behavior carried over into her relationships with friends and
coworkers as well.
“I wasn’t admiring any other guys or anything like that. I was just
looking around, watching people in the restaurant. He was like, ‘I need
to put sunglasses on your face when we go out because you’re always
looking around.’ I didn’t even know that was a form of abuse until
after I decided to get help. He would question me and call me at my
job. He even questioned my friends and coworkers when they
answered the phone.”
Sara broke up with Richard shortly after they began dating because she became
aware of his sudden change in attitude and the way he treated her. She says that
everything about him changed. Regardless of what she said or did, Richard did not stop
trying to contact her over those months apart, utilizing their sexual relationship to shame
her.
“He never stopped calling. Every single day and night, day and night,
he was leaving me disgusting messages. He would leave me messages
about whatever we had done sexually, like ‘You’re a nasty, disgusting
whore. You let me do this to you.’ Anything we did he would use it
against me and disrespect me and make me feel like less of a person.”
Even though Richard continued to manipulate and control Alana in this way,
they eventually got back together. He began trying to control Alana’s finances and
would get mad when she tried to send money to her sick grandmother. Even after her
grandmother died, Richard was unsupportive and did not seem to care. One day when
26
�Alana mentioned that someone had chased her with a gun in the past and she was now
afraid of them, Richard took his gun out of the drawer.
“I told him to put it away but he started smiling. I distanced myself
from him and he came closer with it. When I ran away he chased me
back and forth around the house with the gun. After that happened, I
don’t know if it was a panic attack or anxiety, but I started breathing
hard and I told him. He said ‘Oh you’re just looking for attention.
There’s nothing wrong with you.’ I started crying and he just took me
home. I had to call the ambulance when I got there and at the hospital
they told me it was a panic attack.”
Alana kept trying to limit contact with Richard, but he would show up at her
house unannounced. He continually convinced her to work things out and she eventually
moved in with him. Richard’s controlling behavior and constant suspicion that Alana
was cheating on him turned into controlling behaviors such as his checking her
underwear when she came home and forcing her to have sex to determine if she had been
with anyone else. This behavior ultimately turned into violent and painful sexual assault.
“If I was going to my mom’s house or work, he would try to have sex
with me the night before. It would be really, really rough painful sex.
He would say, ‘Well if you’re going to try to be with someone else,
you’re not going to be able to now.’”
When Alana started to think she might be pregnant, Richard was mad and
denied the possibility of her being pregnant with his child. He already had two older
children and refused to believe he would have a third, even though they had never used
any form of pregnancy prevention. His control led to Alana cutting ties with her friends
and changing whatever she could to appease him.
“That’s when everything really started. He said, ‘If you’re pregnant,
it’s not mine. You’re probably sleeping with someone else.’ Before I
knew I was pregnant, he had seen me getting dressed in a matching bra
and panties and accused me of cheating then too. My mom told me it
was abuse and he was controlling but I was trying to do the best I could
to not get him upset. I was doing what he was asking, I limited my
male friends, I got rid of everybody. Because if he’s getting upset, and
we’re in a relationship, maybe I shouldn’t have male friends. I was
27
�trying to be the perfect girlfriend for him. If he didn’t want me to dress
a certain way, I wasn’t going to. If he didn’t want me to have that
friend, I wasn’t going to.”
Richard continued to deny that the child was his and told Alana and her parents
that he would have nothing to do with Alana or her child. She went to her appointments
on her own while she was living with her parents and looking for an apartment to raise
the baby alone. He contacted her again and they would see each other from time to time.
When she moved back in with him a few months later, the abuse continued. Alana lived
in constant fear that she would lose the baby.
“He was never concerned about the health of the baby. He was hoping
that I had a miscarriage. Throughout the time that we were intimate, he
used to be really rough. After we were done he would ask if I was
bleeding and mention that people have miscarriages after sex. It’s like
he was trying to make me miscarry.”
When Alana started to go into labor, Richard told her she was being stupid and
was not having the baby. She had to call a cab to get to the hospital, even though Richard
had two cars parked outside. While Alana was in the hospital, Richard went to work like
nothing was happening and only sent his mother to the hospital once a nurse called him.
Richard eventually showed up for the birth of the baby, and even though Alana did not
want him in the room, she felt like she could not kick him out because of the possible
consequences later. The first day home, Alana realized just how detrimental Richard
would be when it came to raising the baby, as well as Alana’s need to heal from her
episiotomy.
“My cousin and I had been sterilizing bottles and we left the pot of
water on the stove. When he came home at two o’clock in the
morning, he dragged me out of bed to empty the pot of water. He
yelled, ‘Just because you have a baby, you think you’re going to be
lazy and not keep my house clean. You’re going to get up and make
my house right.’ I had to crawl on my knees, because I was in so much
pain from being cut open down there, to get to the kitchen to dump the
pot. It was just water. He could’ve just dumped it in the sink and put
the pot away without even washing it.”
28
�Alana was barely eating from the pain she was in, but Richard would make food
for himself, not offer her any or ask how she felt, and would not even pick up the baby.
When Alana would try to go to her mother’s house to rest and get help taking care of the
baby, Richard accused her of cheating on him, regardless of the fact that she was still in
pain and healing from the surgery. Alana invited her brother and his girlfriend to sleep
over one night after they had been visiting and it got late, and Richard interpreted it as
another sign that she was cheating on him and avoiding having sex with him.
“That night he choked me. This was the first time that he actually
physically abused me, but he had always sexually abused me before
this. We were arguing on the couch and he jumped on top of me and
was choking me. He started hitting me so I folded up into a ball to
prevent him from hitting me harder. When I got up I realized my lip
was bleeding and so I called the cops. He went into the kitchen and I
followed him to see what he was doing. He took the biggest knife and
started slashing his own arm, and he said, ‘This is what you did to me.
When the cops come, if you tell them what happened, you’re going
down with me. They’re going to take away your baby and ACS is
going to get involved. It’s best if you call it off.’”
Because of Richard’s threats about the cops taking her baby away and deporting
her, when they finally arrived Alana told them everything was fine and that it was just a
misunderstanding. That night, Richard took his aggression out on Alana sexually. Over
the next few months, Alana and the baby went into a shelter numerous times, but
someone always convinced her that it was unsafe and that things would change if they
returned home. Richard continued to neglect their baby and abuse Alana.
“He was yelling at me, calling me a low-life immigrant and a lazy
mother. That whole night, it was just arguments and arguments, like he
was trying to get a reaction. At one point he acted like he was going to
hit me with a bat. So I jumped up and grabbed the bat before he could
get to it. I hit the door with it and that’s when he stepped back and left
me alone, because whatever reaction he was looking for, I guess he got
it. I thought I was scaring him away, but then I realized that he had a
tape recorder recording everything.”
Due to Richard’s deception, Alana was arrested and is now in a custody battle
for her daughter. The custody battle is incredibly stressful for Alana, especially because
29
�she cannot be sure of how well her daughter is being tended to. Richard never took care
of her or even acknowledged that she was his daughter, so now Richard’s mother takes
care of her while he has primary custody.
“He always said that nothing in his life would change because of our
baby. He said, ‘Whatever changes have to happen have to happen with
you, because I never wanted her to begin with.’ He never wanted her
so he thinks he shouldn’t be affected by her coming into this world,
because she wasn’t supposed to be here. That’s what he always said. I
had to do pretty much everything. So now his mom is the one that
takes care of her. She’s with the grandmother all the time and she
pretty much does everything.”
Now that Richard has sole custody of their daughter, he tells her things about
Alana that cause her to question her mother. When their daughter asked about the scars
on his arm from when he cut himself, Richard told her that Alana was the one who cut
him. Both Richard and his mother tell Alana’s daughter the negative things she should
tell the attorney. Alana tries to explain the truth, but she thinks her daughter is very
confused due to the conflicting stories she hears. The abuse she witnessed while Richard
and Alana were together has also impacted their daughter’s behavior.
“Sometimes when he woke up in the morning he wanted to have sex
with me even though she was in the room. He just didn’t care. And
she was around three-years-old at the time so she was old enough to see
and understand what was happening. She used to act out sexual stuff
with teddy bears and things like that. She would be kissing them and
humping them. She used to see these things because it was a one
bedroom apartment.”
Richard’s disregard for his own child did not stop at refusing to feed or take care
of her. By forcing Alana to have sex with him in front of their child, he has created a
negative impact upon their daughter as well. Richard was not only neglectful with his
own daughter and abusive towards Alana, but he also showed aggression towards his
mother’s pet dog.
“His mom used to have pets and he never liked the dog. He used to
kick it and chase it away and stuff like that. He doesn’t like animals
30
�too much. When it would rub up against him he would kick it and say
he was going to let it out so it could go get hit by a car.”
While Alana continues to fight for custody of her daughter, she has come to
realize that she must take care of herself before she will be allowed to take care of her
daughter. While the legal system can offer survivors of IPV many benefits, Alana is one
example of how it can be used against the victim in a negative way.
“She’s my only daughter and I’ve never really been away from her like
this. When they first took her away I didn’t care for myself at all. I
lost a lot of weight and I’d wear the same clothes over and over and go
out without even combing my hair. But I learned that I have to take
care of me first before I can do anything for her. If I’m not healthy I
can’t do anything for her. One day at a time. And it’s very frustrating.
I never knew that the court system was going to be like this.”
V. Discussion
All four of these case studies offer different ways of viewing the transmission,
co-occurrence, and impact of violence within families. While diverse in their specific
details, the experiences of Janet, Danielle, Marlena, and Alana each offer a universal way
of viewing various dynamics that occur within violent families. It is apparent that
violence tends to get passed down from parent to child within families, pointing to an
intergenerational learning model. The violence also tends to co-occur with other forms of
violence, from child neglect and sexual abuse to animal cruelty. When children witness
violence, they are more likely to have behavioral problems later in life. Children
witnessing the violence also cause the victims to be more likely to leave. All of these
factors of family violence were exhibited within the case studies, and even if the results
are limited and difficult to apply to an entire population, they offer important insight into
the dynamics that occur within violent families.
Janet and Alana offer the most vivid examples of the transmission of violence
through the generations of a family. Janet firmly explained that her mother treated her
father subserviently, which led her to believe that that was what was expected in
marriages. Alana’s mother had also been in an abusive relationship with an older man
and warned her to be careful. In both cases, the women saw their mothers involved in
31
�abusive relationships, and through learning and modeling, they came to think of that as
the appropriate way intimate relationships work. Even Marlena recounts how Tommy’s
mother and sister were both the abusive parties in their relationships. While Pollak’s
(2004) model of IMDV argues that IPV is transmitted in a gender-based way, this
particular example proves that that is not always the case.
As numerous researchers have suggested, there is also a strong tendency for
various forms of violence to co-occur in conjunction with IPV. Danielle’s story offers an
interesting example of the overlap between IPV and childhood sexual abuse, which is
reinforced by the intergenerational nature of the childhood sexual abuse in her family.
Avery et al. (2002) found that if a woman was sexually abused as a child, her children are
1.89 times more likely to also be sexually abused. This was apparent in the relationships
between Danielle’s mother and herself, as well as between Danielle and her own
daughter. All three were sexually abused as children, which may suggest that childhood
sexual abuse is another aspect of family violence that is passed down intergenerationally.
Physical child battering was only seen in Alana’s case study, even though the
other women expressed that the fathers neglected their children. Alana’s daughter was
never fully acknowledged by her father Richard, who would hit her occasionally. He also
ignored her constantly, leaving her in a dirty diaper in her crib for hours until Alana came
home to care for her. While the rest of the case studies did not exhibit a clear pattern of
child abuse, it could be argued that Tommy neglected his daughter with Marlena. He left
their daughter at home alone, taught her dangerous habits, and once Marlena left him, he
continued to receive food stamps for his daughter but refused to spend them on her basic
necessities.
The other common link of family violence involves IPV and animal abuse,
which was underreported in this selection of case studies. The only incidence of animal
abuse occurred in Alana’s experience, when Richard would kick his mother’s dog and
threaten to leave it out so that it would get hit by a car. All three of the other women,
when asked whether their batterer ever abused animals, reported something to the extent
of, ‘He treated animals better than me.’ One reason for this underrepresentation of
animal abuse as it is linked to IPV may be due to the findings of Carlisle-Frank (2004).
They determined that 48% of battered women delayed leaving a violent situation, while
25% returned to a violent situation, both out of fear of what would happen to their pets.
Since the survivors in these case studies were referred through social service agencies
that provided them with assistance, this sample would arguably not include the victims
who are remaining with their abusers because they will not leave their pets behind.
32
�Another dynamic of IPV that was exhibited in most of these case studies was the
existence of behavioral problems in the children who witnessed the abuse. Janet,
Marlena, and Alana all reported that their children acted out in some way during or after
the abusive situations. Janet’s grandson began hitting teachers after seeing his
grandfather push Janet onto the bed, something that she only found out had affected him
when he told his therapist about it. Marlena’s daughter has been hitting people more
often than she used to, which contrasts Moylan et al.’s (2010) findings that girls tend to
experience more internalizing behavior problems, yet confirms their behavior problem
theory regardless. Finally, Alana’s daughter has reacted more to witnessing her parents
having sex than to the physical violence, and is mimicking sexual scenarios with dolls
and stuffed animals. In all three of the case studies, the children who witnessed abuse
acted out in various ways following the experience.
Finally, IPV affects the ways mothers react to abuse in the presence of their
children. Every one of the survivors stated that they thought much more seriously about
leaving the abusive situation once children were involved. They were all incredibly vocal
about not wanting their children to witness what they were going through, as well as not
wanting them to think that their relationships were examples of the way you should treat
another person. Overwhelmingly, the decisions to seek help for leaving their abusive
partners stemmed back to the desire to protect their children. This seems to disprove the
commonly held belief that victims of IPV are passive or weak in the face of abuse at the
expense of their children. In reality, each of these survivors was incredibly strong in how
they handled the IPV they experienced.
Future research should continue the study of the various dynamics of violence
within families; namely, why violence occurs and how society can react in a way that
would better assist in ending violence within families. Most social service agencies have
specific focuses, which benefit those receiving the personalized care. However, those
narrow focuses hinder collaboration and cross-reporting amongst agencies. Enacting
policies that would cause IPV, child, and animal welfare agencies to cross-report their
findings would enable providers to utilize various forms of violence as red flags for other
forms of violence or potential issues. By becoming more aware of the dynamics of
violence within families, there is a greater chance that policies and social beliefs can be
altered to assist IPV victims even more.
While IPV seems to be transmitted intergenerationally, co-occurring with other
forms of abuse, and strongly impacting to the women and children that experience it,
there are ways in which IPV can be stopped. Each of the women featured in the case
33
�studies fought to leave the abuse behind, hopefully ending the cycle of violence that
happened in their own families. Future contributions to the literature, such as expanding
this study with more case studies, will assist in determining the different ways in which
violence occurs within families, and therefore how that violence can be stopped.
VI. References
Armsworth, Mary W., and Karin Stronck. 1999. “Intergenerational Effects of Incest on
Parenting: Skills, Abilities, and Attitudes.” Journal Of Counseling and Development
77(3):303-14.
Ascione, Frank R. 1998. “Battered Women’s Reports of Their Partners’ and Their
Children’s Cruelty to Animals.” Journal of Emotional Abuse 1(1):119-33.
Avery, Lisa, K. Dianne Hutchinson, and Keitha Whitaker. 2002. “Domestic Violence and
Intergenerational Rates of Child Sexual Abuse: A Case Record Analysis.” Child and
Adolescent Social Work Journal 19(1):77-90.
Carlisle-Frank, Pamela, Joshua M. Frank, and Lindsey Nielsen. 2004. “Selective
Battering of the Family Pet. Anthrozoos 17(1):26-42.
Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. 1984. “The Duluth Model – Wheel Gallery.”
Retrieved on March 2, 2012 (http://www.theduluthmodel.org/pdf/PowerandControl.pdf).
Gortner, Eric, Sara B. Berns, Neil S. Jacobson, and John M. Gottman. 1997. “When
Women Leave Violent Relationships: Dispelling Clinical Myths.” Psychotherapy
34(4):343-52. DOI: 10.1037/h0087647
Jacobson, Neil S., John M. Gottman, Jennifer Waltz, Regina Rushe, Julia Babcock, and
Amy Holtzworth-Munroe. 1994. “Affect, Verbal Content, and Psychophysiology in the
Arguments of Couples with a Violent Husband.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology 62(5):982-88.
Kimmel, Michael S. 2008. The Gendered Society. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
34
�Letourneau, Nicole L., Cara B. Fedick, and J. Douglas Willms. 2007. “Mothering and
Domestic Violence: A Longitudinal Analysis.” Journal of Family Violence 22(8):649-59.
DOI: 10.1007/s10896-007-9099-6
Levendosky, Alytia A., Alissa C. Huth-Bocks, Deborah L. Shapiro, and Michael A.
Semel. 2003. “The Impact of Domestic Violence on the Maternal-Child Relationship and
Preschool-Age Children’s Functioning.” Journal of Family Psychology 17(3):275-87.
DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.17.3.275
McKay, Mary McKernan. 1994. “The Link Between Domestic Violence and Child
Abuse: Assessment and Treatment Considerations.” Child Welfare 73(1):29-39.
Meyer, Silke. 2010. “Seeking Help to Protect the Children?: The Influence of Children on
Women’s Decisions to Seek Help When Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence.”
Journal of Family Violence 25:713-25. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-010-9329-1
Moylan, Carrie A., Todd I. Herrenkohl, Cindy Sousa, Emiko A. Tajima, Roy C.
Herrenkohl, and M. Jean Russo. 2010. “The Effects of Child Abuse and Exposure to
Domestic Violence on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems.”
Journal of Family Violence 25:53-63. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-009-9269-9
Onyskiw, Judee E. 2007. “The Link Between Family Violence and Cruelty to Family
Pets.” Journal of Emotional Abuse 7(3):7-30.
Pollak, Robert A. 2004. “An Intergenerational Model of Domestic Violence.” Journal of
Population Economics 17:311-29. DOI: 10.1007/s00148-003-0177-7.
Stacey, William A, and Anson D. Shupe. 1983. The Family Secret: Domestic Violence in
America. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Stark, Evan, and Anne Flitcraft. 1988. “Women and Children at Risk: A Feminist
Perspective on Child Abuse.” International Journal of Health Services 18(1):97-118.
Yllo, Kersti. 1993. “Through a Feminist Lens: Gender, Power, and Violence.” Pp. 47-62
in Current Controversies on Family Violence, edited by R. J. Gelles and D. Loseke.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
35
�Appendix A: Power and Control Wheel
36
�Appendix B: Authorization for Release of Personal Information
I, ______________________________, allow that the personal information regarding my
experiences with family violence discussed during this meeting be used for the purpose
of case study research for Courtney Heiserman’s undergraduate thesis. My name and any
other details that may compromise the confidentiality of my identity will be changed in
all versions of this thesis (written and oral) to maintain my safety and privacy. I also
understand that this article may be printed in an academic journal. Any other nonidentifying information I discuss may be included as data in the thesis, unless I
specifically tell the researcher that I would like it excluded. In this case I will note the
exclusion in the section at the bottom of this form. The interview will be tape-recorded
for the purpose of utilizing direct quotations and maintaining correct information. Only
the researcher will listen to the recording, which will be deleted as soon as all information
from it is obtained. Any questions or concerns I have can be directed at Courtney
Heiserman (xxx-xxx-xxxx or courtney.heiserman@wagner.edu) or Dr. John Esser (xxxxxx-xxxx or jesser@wagner.edu). If I feel uncomfortable at any time during the meeting
I am allowed to request to stop the interview and leave.
_____________________________
Printed Name
_____________________________ __________
Signature
Date
Please exclude the following information:
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
37
�Appendix C: Interview Question Guideline
When and how did your experience of intimate partner violence begin?
How did the violence begin? How did it progress?
Was the violence indirect (manipulation, control) or direct (hitting, verbal)?
When and how did the violence affect your children? Pets? Other family members?
Did you feel like this made it harder or easier to leave?
How did you seek assistance? What safety steps did you take?
How often did your partner:
Act jealous or possessive?
Accuse you of flirting or cheating?
Check your phone or computer?
Control what you did or whom you saw?
Criticize or humiliate you (especially around others)?
Threaten to hurt you, your family, pets, friends, or him-/herself?
Pressure or force you into having sexual relations?
Verbally or emotionally degrade you?
Hit, shove, strangle, or physically hurt you?
Hurt or threaten your children?
Hurt or threaten your pets?
38
�The Nude Female Body Redefined
Jessica Makwinski (Arts Administration and Art History)1
Introduction
The female nude, more than any other subject, “connotes art” as argued by art
historian, Lynda Nead (Meagher 36). Dating back to our earliest known forms of tangible
expression, the female figure has been explored on multiple levels and in a variety of
fashions. The shock value of the undressed female body has faded especially in
contemporary Western culture because of the endless accessibility of images in cyber
space, cinema and advertising. Though representing a large portion of the subject matter
in both high art and popular culture, the depiction of women has been dominated by a
masculine discourse. The female figure has been objectified for centuries from the
perspective of the voyeuristic male gaze. Portrayed as young, attractive, voluptuous and
ideal, women have embodied seduction and beauty to please a male audience.
Working as a postmodern painter in direct opposition to the concept of female
eroticism and the inferiority of women, Jenny Saville challenges the male gaze and works
to re-appropriate the female figure by painting voluminous forms that dominate the
pictorial space. Saville forces the viewer to reconsider the trajectory of the patriarchal
mold of perfection in the visual arts by exaggerating the female body and its grotesque
features. She empowers her subjects not only by painting them as gigantic figures, but by
countering the male gaze with a personal confrontation of the viewer.
The following paper will discuss the ways in which the female figure has been
commonly interpreted by various types of male voyeurs; define the male gaze; rebut the
patriarchal vision of women based on Saville’s feminist approach; analyze three of
Saville’s paintings of the nude female, and present the artist’s use of a traditional medium
to illustrate an unconventional and often unexplored subject.
The Trajectory of the Female Figure throughout Art’s Histories
Male artists have dominated the tradition of art both in terms of who has
produced a majority of the works and what has been accepted in terms of content. The
Written under the direction of Dr. Laura Morowitz for AR491: Contemporary Art, Theory,
and Criticism.
1
39
�white Western male perspective has been unconsciously supported as the viewpoint of art
historians who have analyzed works from the eyes of those creating them. But already by
1971, Linda Nochlin famously asked the question: why have there been so few women
artists in the history of art compared to their male counterparts? In her essay, “Why Have
There Been No Great Women Artists?” (1971), Nochlin recognized not a lack of talent
found in women artists but an insufficient investigation into their works (Nochlin 3). For
one, the arts education system has been dominated by males not because women are less
competent, but because white, bourgeois men have had the luxury to receive proper
schooling (Nochlin 3). Women were accustomed to being looked at and took on the role
as an object and were portrayed this way in art. The viewer plays an important part in
processing the female nude, and generally takes on one of three roles: the confronted
voyeur (the viewer is directly confronted with eye contact from the female in the work),
the pure voyeur (the viewer secretively watches the women although she is unaware of
his presence), or the secondary voyeur (the viewer witnesses another male watching the
female nude within the work).
One example where viewer makes contact with the female model in the work is
in Titian’s Venus of Urbino, 1538 (Figure 1). The woman is lying in the standard position
of the reclining female nude with her body fully exposed to the viewer (Kleiner 610). The
female figure, whether divine or mortal, embodies ideal womanly beauty in terms of male
desire. She is the primary focus in the work, and is perfected to seduce the intended male
viewer. The work was painted for Guidobaldo II, the duke of Urbino, who commissioned
a painting of a female nude which he could enjoy privately (Kleiner 610). In this
painting, the figure is aware that she is being looked at, but she promotes invitation with
her sensual expression and erotic hand placement. Though she is making eye contact with
the viewer, she plays the role of the sexualized object and openly welcomes attention.
Another way the male viewer has been accounted for is through a pure
voyeuristic approach. In Gustave Courbet’s Woman with a Parrot, 1866 (Figure 2), the
recognizable model appears preoccupied with the bird, making her unaware that she is
being watched. Seemingly set in a private setting, the idealized nude lays fully exposed to
the viewer without establishing a direct connection to him. She becomes, once again, an
object made for male sexual pleasure.
An additional example where the female nude is put on display can be seen in
Eric Fischl’s Bad Boy, 1981 (Figure 3). The male viewer acts as a secondary voyeur who
watches the women become the surveyed subject. The ideal spectator is always assumed
40
�to be male and the image of the female body is meant to satisfy his desires, and in this
case the female nude is pleasuring two male figures (Berger 64).
In each of these examples, the nude female becomes a sexual object. Her body is
put on display according to the male viewer, and rather than having anything to do with
her sexuality, all the works are made to appeal to his sexuality (Berger 54). Spanning a
period of over 400 years, these examples are only a few of the extensive list where artists
have depicted the female nude in order to please a particular audience. The female nude
in the history of art has revolved almost entirely around the concept of the male gaze.
The Male Gaze
Both man and woman are created equally in terms of their ability to internalize
the world through visual perception. However, the outward expressions of these
subjective interpretations have often been weighted heavily on the basis of a male bias, or
the male gaze. Laura Mulvey, a feminist film theorist, discussed the male gaze as the
objectification of women in film based on who was in control of the camera: heterosexual
men (Mulvey 7). The female body, according to Mulvey, is represented through the male
perspective and becomes an erotic being for the characters within the film. The man
always emerges as the dominant power while women remain passive objects built for
pleasure.
The inequality of men and women in film can also be discussed in terms of the
female gaze, where women see themselves through the eyes of men and conform to
norms established to benefit men (Mulvey 10). “Women displayed as sexual object is the
leit-motif of erotic spectacle... she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire”
(Mulvey 10). Mainstream film combines narrative with pure visual stimulation through
the sexualized female figure. Though speaking in terms of cinema, Mulvey’s theories on
the male gaze can be applied to the fine arts, where the discourse has also been
dominated by men.
Sigmund Freud associated the Greek term, scopophilia or love for looking,
“with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze”
(Mulvey 8). Scopophilia becomes “the erotic basis for pleasure in looking at another
person as object. At the extreme, it can become fixated into a perversion, producing
obsessive voyeurs and Peeping Toms” (Mulvey 8). Viewing an individual, or in this case
a woman, as an object implies that her physical body is more important than her intellect.
The female body is conventionally framed and explored as an object and an
objectified possession of the implicitly male viewer. An object body is a
41
�body abstracted from concrete lived reality; it’s a body that has been quite
literally turned into an object- unchanging, external, immanent. It’s a body
that is the ultimate in passive contemplation, existing merely for admiration
and disinterested contemplation. (Meagher 36)
Stripping her of a mind and a soul, the male gaze has diminished what it means to be a
woman by simply praising the body as a pretty item purposed for sexual encounters.
The male gaze is, in part, responsible for high standards of appearance in
contemporary Western culture. Mulvey’s concept of the female gaze (women viewing
and presenting themselves according to heterosexual male standards) has led to women
taking on the “exhibitionist role” where their bodies “connote to-be-looked-at-ness,” and
encourage male observation (Mulvey 9). Women therefore, have become display items
not by choice or through self-interest but to appear attractive to a specific audience. “The
notion of a ‘tightly managed body’ has come to represent contemporary Western
feminine beauty and attractiveness” and can be seen in all outlets of media and
entertainment (Meagher 36). The focus on aesthetics is a product of the unrealistic
standards set by the male gaze in both high art and popular culture.
In terms of the visual arts, how artists have chosen to depict women reflects the
same sexualized portrayal found in film. John Berger compares the women’s expression
in Ingres’ La Grande Odalisque, 1814 (Figure 4) with a model for an advertisement in a
contemporary magazine. He comments on the similarity in seductiveness as “a woman
responding with calculated charm to the man whom she imagines looking at her-although she doesn’t know him. She is offering up her femininity as the surveyed”
(Berger 55). Whether her facial expression was the model’s discretion or a decision made
by the photographer, the male gaze has encouraged women to behave and appear as
erotic objects in order to attract a heterosexual male audience.
Saville’s Feminist Backlash
Jenny Saville was born in Edinburgh in 1970, and won numerous awards and
scholarships before graduating with honors from the Glasgow School of Art in 1992
(Holmes 1). She owes her initial success as a young artist to Charles Saatchi, who tracked
down and bought paintings she had previously sold and then commissioned a body of
work for himself (Mackenzie 4). Saatchi granted Saville the freedom and the funds to
create works concerning the body that she wanted to make for a long time.
“[Saville attributes the early ‘fascination with fat’ to sitting on the floor
watching her piano teacher,” carefully examining the way her thick thighs never parted
42
�and how the flesh would rub against the tights (Mackenzie 4). She likes art that
concentrates on the rawness of the human figure, but she was also influenced by
feminism and the way women have been depicted in the media. Her works combine a
mix of awe and intimacy while exploring the physical attributes of the body that conjure
psychological implications of tradition and culture concerning of the female nude.
Saville works to scrutinize the established traditions of the female nude in art.
“By shifting the female body’s position from an object of male delectation, and thus
deconstructing the male fantasy projected for centuries on it, Saville is able to question
the female body’s representation through art history” (Noël 2). Though the content in
Saville’s work is consistent with the works previously discussed (always the female
nude) her stylistic interpretations challenge the typically desirable portrayal of women.
As writer Charles Darwent points out, historically “[o]ne genre of painting that has not by
and large lent itself to large-scale treatment, though, has been the female nude [...] Given
the need of male viewers to reinforce their masterly role by looking at things smaller than
themselves, oversized pictures of women were clearly a bad idea” (Noël 3). Evidently not
at all concerned with offending male viewers who long to feel superior over women,
Saville not only paints her subjects in a dominating size and scale, but she deals directly
with and even accentuates disturbing features of the female figure.
It also makes a difference that Saville is a woman painting the female nude
rather than a male depicting his desires of the female nude. Writer Donald Kuspit feels
that “[Saville] reclaims female subjectivity by emphasizing woman’s potent flesh... but it
makes all the emotional difference that it is a woman who is rendering her own body”
freeing it from the discourse of patriarchy (Noël 5). Though the artist uses herself as a
model, her paintings deal with issues concerning women collectively in both the past and
present. Saville states, “It’s such a male-laden art, so historically weighted. The way
women were depicted didn’t feel like mine, too cute. I wasn’t interested in admired or
idealized beauty” (Mackenzie 5). Saville investigates the concept of disgust as a backlash
towards the biased traditions in art.
Painting the physical body in a confrontational way allows Saville to explore
internal issues concerning the female figure based on Western societal expectations.
“Although it is clear that Saville thinks of herself more as a painter of flesh than as a
feminist activist, her exploration of the female figure goes beyond aesthetics in order to
address deeper issues related to the social constructions of the body” (Noël 2). Though
the female nude is and has always been a primary subject in art, fat or obese women have
been often kept taboo. “Saville’s work is a provocative site for the emergence of an
43
�aesthetic of disgust that can propose new modes of thinking about feminine embodiment”
(Meagher 24). Dealing directly with the abject, “Saville’s work sets up a context in which
spectators can begin to come to terms with gut feelings of disgust” rather than
suppressing these feelings based on cultural standards of beauty (Meagher 29). She urges
contemporary Western women to confront the familiar feelings of disgust one has with
herself when comparing one’s physical appearance to unrealistic body ideals constructed
through cinema, advertising, television and also art history. “Saville’s paintings suggest
that the abject female body isn’t merely a fat body, but a body that refuses to comply with
the contemporary ideals of a tightly managed feminine form” (Meagher 38). This
rejection of societal standards encourages the viewer to reconsider past depictions of the
female nude. While women are generally displayed according to male sexual desires,
Saville paints dominating forms that challenge art historical traditions but also
contemporary Western standards of beauty.
Saville directly attacks and rejects the male gaze by giving her subjects the
power to confront the viewer. “In a reversal of the traditional nude, wherein a female
figure passively displays her body for the pleasure of an implicitly male gaze, the figures
in Saville’s paintings return the spectator’s stare with an appraising gaze of their own”
(Meagher 38). Her works often present an accusatory yet empowering stare that
highlights her purpose of re-appropriating the female figure from an alarming, not
idealized feminine perspective.
Detailed Analysis of Propped, Reflective Flesh and Plan
Saville works to re-appropriate the nude female figure by emphasizing rather
than disregarding its grotesque features. Propped, 1992 (Figure 5), Reflective Flesh,
2002-03 (Figure 6) and Plan, 1993 (Figure 7) entice the viewer to examine each aspect of
the enlarged female flesh. She does not paint the female figure as a sexualized toy, but
she empowers her female subjects by challenging the male gaze through a personal
confrontation with each viewer.
In Propped (Figure 5), Saville “rejects the patriarchal clichés of female
representation” in terms of both content and form (Holmes 146). The female subject, who
resembles the artist herself, is balancing on an impossibly tiny stool clutching her
colossal thighs. The sharp foreshortened angle creates a distorted perspective that allows
the subject’s knees and thighs to spill overwhelmingly outward. The scale of the figure’s
body is meant to be challenging and it forces the viewer to reconsider not only the beauty
idealized in art, but social and cultural expectations concerning the female figure.
44
�The reversed quote inscribed onto the figure comes from feminist Luce Irigaray
and reads: “If we continue to speak in this sameness, speak as men have spoken for
centuries, we will fail each other again” (Holmes 146). “Following Irigaray’s call for a
feminine symbolic, Saville’s paintings reclaim the female body from centuries of maleproduced art that have defined women’s bodies and women’s beauty. ‘We need,’
[Saville] explains, ‘a new language, a women’s language, so that we don’t have to take
on maleness to be successful’” (Meagher 25). The figure’s body is facing fully forward
suggesting that the viewer is aware she is being watched. Unlike Titian’s Venus of
Urbino (Figure 1), the subject does not invite the male viewer through seduction and
beauty, but rather calls women to action to take a stand against the objectifying male
gaze.
This is an image, as one reviewer wrote, that no woman wants to have of
herself: “It conjured up every woman’s worst nightmare of how she might look with no
clothes on: huge expanses of quivering milky blubber filled with water blue veins scored
by stretch marks bore down on spectators like some like-sucking blancmange” (Meagher
25). The reversal of the inscribed quote suggests that the witness is looking at a mirror
image. Saville personalizes the taboo subject by making her the viewer’s own reflection,
whether male or female. The viewer’s connection to the work through the reversal of the
quote enhances the emotional baggage induced by this enlarged female body.
Contrasted with the previously discussed paintings of the female nude, it is clear
that Saville’s aims as an artist are not to satisfy a male audience. The female subject is
nude, but she is far from sexualized. The size of the painting alone, 6 feet by 7 feet,
challenges the masculine discourse in art history by expanding the meaning of the female
body both literally and symbolically because the male viewer is no longer superior to the
dainty female subject. The color of the subject’s flesh evokes a sense of disgust compared
to the traditional depictions of smooth, seamless complexions of film and advertising.
Titian’s Venus of Urbino (Figure 1) and Courbet’s Woman with a Parrot (Figure 2) both
present subjects with glorified and glowing exteriors while Saville highlights the lumpy
mounds of excessive and fatty flesh.
Reflective Flesh (Figure 6) is another example of Saville’s works that is
confrontational to the viewer and challenges the concept of the sexually pleasing female
nude. This work can be compared to Gustave Courbet’s Origin of the World, 1866
(Figure 8). Both reveal the openly exposed female genitalia to the viewer; however the
woman in Courbet’s painting is faceless, setting the pubic area as the only focus in the
work. Saville’s painting is much more confrontational, not only because the subject’s
45
�body includes her head, but her expression is stern and domineering. The figure in Origin
of the World is displayed as an object solely purposed for sexual reproduction and
pleasure. The subject is idealized and young but dehumanized, leaving her unaware of the
male audience examining her body. In Reflective Flesh, the genitalia is also the focus of
the work but is not present to create a beautiful image, instead it reveals a woman’s
reality. Not only is the genitalia duplicated by the mirrors on the floor, but the angles of
the subject’s torso and thighs direct our gaze toward the figure’s vagina, making this the
center of our attention (Noël 6).
The subject, who was modeled after Saville herself, is gazing back at the viewer.
“This dominating stare creates a juncture between the objectified body and the rational
human face, increasingly in this since this particular gaze is confrontational” (Noël 6).
While the nude in Courbet’s work lays comfortably and ignorant of her audience, the
subject in Saville’s work is positioned in a way that exposes open flesh. “The model is in
control of the situation and seems to purposefully flaunt her bushy, imperfect genitalia at
the viewer, not in an effort to seduce him, but as if to announce reality” (Noël 6). The
viewer is compelled to encounter the subject’s genitalia while he or she is simultaneously
challenged by the subject’s own gaze.
Besides the subject’s dominant expression and stance, the size of the work also
connotes the deconstruction of the male gaze. The work measures 10 feet tall by 8 feet
wide, preventing any sense of comfort or sexual desire to be found in the viewer. This
work announces feminine power literally through its massive size but also symbolically
through Saville’s choice to break tradition. Origin of the World is intimate and continues
the notion of male superiority. The work is small and painted according to proper human
size diminishing any hope for intimidation or power expressed through the female body.
Once again, Saville experiments with a mirrored image to make implications
about the subject. In art, the mirror was often used as a symbol of the vanity of women
(Berger 51). But “the real function of the mirror was otherwise. It was to make the
woman connive in treating herself as, first and foremost, a sight” (Berger 51). It is
appropriate to say that Saville’s carefully arranged setup of mirrors allows the subject to
be looked at as a ‘sight’. But unlike past usages of the mirror, where beauty and
idealization were multiplied for the viewer, Saville’s reflections of the open genitalia
present various angles of its grotesque features. The use of the mirrors can be seen “as a
renewal of the female space, as well as an attempt of the artist’s to break down the
phallocratic definition of woman by offering different perspectives regarding the female
subject” (Noël 7). The female nude exerts her power in Reflective Flesh by exposing
46
�herself in an unpleasing manner in order to deconstruct the underlying purpose of the
traditional nude: to project masculine desires onto the female figure in an effort of
seduction.
Plan (Figure 7) is an additional example where Saville’s formal decisions create
a shocking and untraditional image of the female nude. The perspective forces the viewer
to examine the subject’s body before making contact with her face. “It’s a late-20thcentury Venus of Wildendorf seen in ant’s-eye perspective” which makes the subject
appear even larger than the 9 feet by 7 feet canvas suggests (Holmes 145). “For the
viewer who has already gawked at the body, it’s decidedly uncomfortable to arrive at the
face and confront the psychological presence of this thinking and feeling human being”
(Holmes 145). The psychological implication that is created by the subject’s stare
reminds the viewer how the male-dominated discourse of art history has accustomed its
spectators to look at the painted female body: as an object of entertainment deprived of a
thinking mind (Noël 4). This angle of vision, though grotesquely enlarged, directly forces
the viewer’s contact with the imperfect and expansive flesh of the nude female while also
presenting the psychological entanglements of the nude female in art history.
Saville also examines the concept of cosmetic plastic surgery in this work, a
phenomenon she has studied in great detail. When discussing the Western interest in
plastic surgery, Saville states:
In the ‘50s or ‘60s, plastic surgery was used for cases of extreme
deformation, whereas from the ‘90s on, the majority of patients already have
what might be considered normal bodies. Yet women entered this space
believing they were mutant and came out normalized- streamlined, to better
match our culture’s notion of what the most perfect, natural form for a
woman should be. Many surgeons I worked with really do consider
themselves to be the Michelangelos of flesh. (Holmes 146)
Saville’s use of line traced on the outer surface of the body alludes to the surgeon’s plan
of areas to cut during liposuction. Though the exaggerated perspective makes the
subject’s body appear larger than it is in actuality, this vision of the female body
represents how many contemporary Western women feel about themselves. She
“represents bodies rarely appreciated in contemporary Western culture. In a cultural
climate that encourages women to conceal, if not excise, those parts of their bodies
considered fat, jiggly, out of control, and excessive, Saville insists upon revealing
precisely these features” (Meagher 24). Inspired directly from witnessing plastic
surgeries and studying medical textbook imagery, Saville counters the contemporary
47
�Western ideals of the perfect body by presenting overwhelming and often disturbing
images of the nude female.
Oil Paint: A Traditional Medium Used for an Unconventional Subject
Saville’s ability to create such untraditional images through her carefully
calculated use of formal elements helps her to re-appropriate the female nude from the
patriarchal discourse of Western society. However, despite her exploration of newness in
terms of style, she uses perhaps the most traditional medium in art: oil paint. No other
medium evokes academic art and conventionalized depictions of the female nude more
so, but Saville has in a sense reinvented the material to speak in a new way concerning
the topic.
Saville has experimented with other materials such as photography in her series
Closed Contact 1-15 (Figure 9) where the artist collaborated with Glen Luchford in 1995
(Holmes 146). She flattened her body on a sheet of transparent Perspex, pushing each
area of her skin forcefully against the surface to demonstrate the malleability of flesh by
posing nude (Holmes 146). She quickly found that photography could not capture the
rawness of flesh she was attempting to achieve. “I realized that those glossy, perfect
surfaces [of photography] are all the same, whether for a department-store catalogue, a
poster, or art. Painting is about the unique surface- and in the end it restored my faith” as
an art form, says Saville (Holmes 146). Whereas photography captures a single moment
in time, painting is an evolutionary process that can be manipulated, just like the flesh of
the human body. According to Saville, part of her aesthetic project is “trying to make
paint behave in the way flesh behaves” (Meagher 37). She treats her paint as liquid flesh.
Oil paint helps Saville reveal the vulnerability of the human body, compared to
earlier academic paintings that depicted idealized and immortal figures. She is able to
capture the interior body such as the sense of blood underneath the skin, and how these
stains can be confused with shadows on the exterior surface of the skin (Mackenzie 6).
Saville is interested in the stories that imprint themselves on the body, whether it’s a fat,
injured, or scarred body, it has undergone a journey to get there, and painting allows her
to best reveal these stories of deterioration (Holmes 144). She’s not interested in idealized
beauty, but rather she uses the outer surface of the flesh to explore interior emotions and
struggles females have with their appearance.
48
�Conclusion
Jenny Saville’s paintings of the female nude aim to free the naked body from the
male-dominated discourse in art. By giving her subjects the power to attack the male gaze
with a gaze of their own, she rejects the patriarchal clichés of female representation by
countering established Western traditions. Fat bodies and other taboo subjects are brought
to the surface in often a very confrontational manner, enhancing her ability to challenge
the viewer’s understanding of the female nude in art. Through oil paint, Saville manages
to explore the inner emotions women face concerning their appearance while treating the
outer flesh as a vulnerable vault which reveals our imperfections to the world.
Works Cited
Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of
Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series with John Berger. London: British
Broadcasting Corporation, 1990.
Gray, John. “The Landscapes of the Body: Ballad, Bacon and Saville.” Jenny Saville.
New York: Rizzoli International Publication, 2005.
Holmes, Pernilla. "The Body Unbeautiful." ARTnews Nov. 2003: 144-47.
Kino, Carol. “Jenny Saville at Gagosian.” Art in America 92 no.1 (2004): 103-104.
Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History.
13th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson Higher Education, 2009
Mackenzie, Suzie. "Under the Skin." The Guardian. 21 Oct. 2005. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
<guardian.co.uk>.
Meagher, Michelle. "Jenny Saville and a Feminist Aesthetics of Disgust." Hypatia 18.4
(2003): 23-41.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 (1975): 6-18.
Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Women, Art, and
Power and Other Essays. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. 145-178.
49
�Noël, Laurence. "Concordia Undergraduate Journal of Art History." Jenny Saville: The
Body Recovered. 7 Mar. 2012.
Schama, Simon. “Interview with Jenny Saville.” Jenny Saville. New York: Rizzoli
International Publication, 2005.
Sylvester, David. “Areas of Flesh.” Jenny Saville. New York: Rizzoli International
Publication, 2005.
Valdez, Sarah. "Naked Truths." ARTnews Mar. 2003. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://http://www.artnews.com/2003/03/01/naked-truths/>.
50
�Figure 1: Titian. Venus of Urbino, 1538
Figure 2: Gustave Courbet. Woman with a Parrot, 1866
51
�Figure 3: Eric Fischl. Bad Boy, 1981
Figure 4: Ingres. La Grande Odalisque, 1814
52
�Figure 5 :Jenny Saville. Propped, 1992
Figure 6: Jenny Saville. Reflective Flesh, 2002-03
53
�Figure 7: Jenny Saville. Plan, 1993
Figure 8: Gustave Courbet. Origin of the World, 1866
54
�Figure 9: Jenny Saville. Closed Contact, 1995
55
�“O serpent under femynynytee:” Patriarchal Power as
Shown through Female Competition and the MadonnaWhore Binary in Chaucer’s The Man of Law’s Tale”
Rachel Zaydak (English and Anthropology)1
The ‘woman question,’ encompassing evaluations of female subjectivity,
agency, societal roles and any challenges to these concepts, is a lively topic in scholarly
criticism concerning Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The madonna-whore binary is one of
the many critical feminist topics concerning the portrayal of women in the Canterbury
Tales. Feminist critique understands the madonna-whore binary as a mechanism of
power that serves the patriarchal hegemony. As such, the binary necessitates womanagainst-woman relationships, effectively preventing a unified female alliance that can
obtain political agency. This binary and its resultant combative female relationships are
especially apparent in Chaucer’s The Man of Law’s Tale. Throughout the narrative,
Custance embodies patriarchy’s idea of the ideal madonna, or ‘good girl,’ and the
Sowdanesse and Donegild represent the opposing whores, or ‘bad girls.’ Good Custance
is portrayed as a Christ-like, virtuous, and passive; meanwhile, the bad Sowdanesse and
Donegild are portrayed as murderous and power-hungry heathens who seek to injure the
good Custance’s well-being and standing in society. Also, considering the familial
relationship between Custance and her two bad girl mothers-in-law, these womanagainst-woman relationships are particularly rich in telling us about how patriarchal
power mechanisms operate within the tale.
An examination of the good and bad women in The Man of Law’s Tale is
undeniably bound to discussions of religiosity. As a Christian work, the tale is didactic,
displaying exaggerated examples of faithful Christians and detestable heathens. In her
article “Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale: Teaching through the Sources,” critic Christine
Rose discusses Nicholas Trevet’s Les Cronicles, one of Chaucer’s main sources for the
story of Custance. A study of Custance’s section of Les Cronicles leads to interesting
contrasts between it and Chaucer’s version of Custance. In Les Cronicles, Custance “is
Written under the direction of Dr. Anne Schotter for EN303 Chaucer: A Study of Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales.
1
56
�literate, learned, quick-witted, resourceful, and even physically strong” (Rose 157).
Trevet dedicated Les Cronicles to Edward II’s sister Princess Mary, a nun. More than
just standing as an example of feminine and Christian purity, here, Custance “provides
the physical and moral center of a book written for the entertainment and edification of a
worldly nun” (158).
With this in mind, Rose argues that The Man of Law’s Tale disempowers
Custance’s character, making her “more feminized (here read as ‘passive’) and more
reliant upon the power of God for her authority and her worldly fortune” (159). This
version of Custance’s character is far less bold and assertive than Trevet’s, and thus, her
powerlessness is accentuated throughout the tale. The tale shows Custance as an example
of the only proper heroic status thought available to women during its time—one of a
beautiful young woman who maintains her Christian faith through perilous trials, all the
while assenting to male authority. Her glad acceptance of male authority is echoed in the
narrator’s call: “O Emperoures yonge doghter deere,/ He that is lord of Fortune be thy
steere!” (ll. 447-448). Custance’s heroism is accentuated by the presumed anti-heroism
of her evil mothers-in-law who are not Christian and breach male authority: “she hirself
[the Sowdanesse] wolde al the contree lede” (l. 434).
The binary relationships of good Custance and her bad mothers-in-law are even
further emphasized in this Christian light. Custance is the embodiment of womanly
virtue, representing a Virgin Mary figure. Custance’s acceptance of her role as the
mother of a royal heir mirrors Mary’s acceptance of her role as the mother of Christ
(Rose 160). This comparison is also alluded to when Custance prays to Mary to take pity
on her and her baby after Donegild sends her off on a boat in Alla’s absence. Both
Custance and Mary obtain power through their “submission to the will of God” (160).
The merchants’ report to the Sultan about Custance emphasizes her holiness and clearly
demonstrates the comparison between Custance and Mary:
To alle hire werkes vertu is hir gyde;
Humblesse hath slayn in hire al tirannye.
She is mirour of all curteisye;
Hir herte is verray chamber of hollynesse,
Hir hand, minister of fredam for almesse (ll. 164-168)
Amply contrasting with this, Custance’s mothers-in-law represent the devil on
earth. They are explicitly not Christian and are against conversion to Christianity. The
narrator’s description of the Sowdanesse is telling: “O serpent under femynynytee,/ Lik
57
�to the serpent depe in helle ybounde!” (ll. 360-361). This description occurs after the
Sowdanesse meets with her council and conspires to murder her son and the other
Christian converts at the feast. Directly following this, the narrator blatantly highlights
the pitting of Custance against the serpentine Sowdanesse: “O feyned woman, al that may
confounde/ Vertu and innocence, thurgh thy malice,/ Is bred in thee, as nest of every
vice!” (ll. 362-364). Even more explicitly, the narrator later calls the Sowdanesse an
“instrument” of the devil (l. 370). Donegild is also portrayed as an instrument of the
devil, engaging in heathen activities and generally disliked by everyone: “The mooder
was an elf, by aventure/ Ycomen, by charmes or by sorcerie,/ And every wight hateth hir
compaignye” (ll. 754-756).
The madonna-whore binary is evident in the realm of secular patriarchal control
as well in The Man of Law’s Tale. As the good woman, properly married and watched
over, Custance does not pose a threat to Alla and his rule in his absence. Alla’s trusted
male friends, the constable and bishop, protect and watch over Custance. As critic
Gerald Nachtwey points out in his article “Geoffroi de Charny’s Book of Chivalry and
Violence in The Man of Law’s Tale and The Franklin’s Tale,” Custance’s actions reflect
her non-threatening good girl status; “Now faire Custance, that is so humble and meke,/
So longe is goon with childe, til that stille/ She halt hire chamber, abiding Cristes wille”
(ll. 719-721). Her character is “humble and meke,” as opposed to a more bold character
that would not quietly assent to patriarchal will. As critic Carolyn Dinshaw points out in
the section, “Misogynist Constance, Feminist Constance” of her article “New Approaches
to Chaucer,” Custance’s humble and meek demeanor reflects how she is comfortable
with relying on patriarchal power: “the image of Constance on the sea in a rudderless
boat conveys the sense of her inner stability in settings of extreme contingency and lack
of control” (277). Her bowing to patriarchal control is exemplified as she accepts that
she must leave her native land and family to marry the Sultan; she says that women are
born “to been under mannes governance” (l. 281).
By assenting to “mannes governance,” in her arranged marriage to the Sultan,
Custance also assents to the ideals of patriarchal chivalric marriage. Additionally, in
Alla’s absence Custance keeps herself quietly tucked away, not taking advantage of the
power vacuum and avoiding any sexual threats. By cooperatively accepting her
husband’s trip and piously waiting his return, Custance allows Alla to fulfill the
expectations of a knightly chivalric career that entail going on war campaigns and
defeating enemies (Nachtwey 112). In abiding by the codes surrounding chivalric
marriage, Custance reinforces her status as the good girl within the patriarchal system.
58
�On the contrary, the Sowdanesse and Donegild take advantage of their sons’
absences, attempting to gain power. Their actions stem from an envy of patriarchal
power: “Like Satan, both of the mothers in this tale are ultimately envious of their sons’
power; this envy manifests itself in their desire to ruin the Christian marriages of their
sons” (Natchtwey 113). Unlike Custance, they are clearly not comfortable with humbly
assenting to patriarchal control and their own lack of control. They are doubly at fault in
a chivalric sense—they are no longer bound to chivalric marriages and they seek to
destroy their sons’ chivalric marriages. Also, in the case of Donegild, she ruins her son’s
attempts of chivalric war pursuits by troubling the stability of his kingdom while he is
away (112-113).
Furthermore, considering the context of female heritable rights to rule in
England and France during the Medieval ages and Chaucer’s time, the madonna-whore
binary as enacted by mother and daughter-in-law in The Man of Law’s Tale is particularly
interesting. In her article, “A Mooder He Hath, but Fader Hath He Noon,” critic Angela
Florschuetz investigates gender politics surrounding the French and English crowns
during the fourteenth century. During this time, with the dubious influence of Philip of
Poitiers, brother of Louis X and future Philip V, French lawmakers made a law that
women could not rule in their own names. This law effectively disinherited Philip’s
niece, Jeanne, so that he would then become the ‘rightful’ heir to the throne (26).
Previously, the question of female eligibility had never been so closely considered and
challenged. As Florschuetz points out, the misogynist anxiety over female inheritance
and influence over the crown showed itself in the science of the time: “prominent medical
discourses based in Aristotelian biology” supported Phillip “by suggesting that only men
could inherit and transmit bloodlines” (25-26).
Florschuetz argues that in The Man of Law’s Tale, “Chaucer draws attention to
the patriarchal fantasy of autonomous male reproduction of patriline, the desire to
imagine male lineages as self-reproducing without the interference of maternal influence”
(26). The relationships in The Man of Law’s Tale reflect the desire for a male-centered
royal inheritance and the anxiety concerning female influence upon rule during the
fourteenth century by posing Custance and her mothers-in-law against one another in a
madonna-whore binary: “Oppositional juxtapositions of maternity between mothers-inlaw and Custance set up…a dichotomy of ‘bad’ versus ‘good’ mothers” (50). The
madonna-whore structure serves to perpetuate this exclusion of women from possession
of and influence over the throne. Florschuetz states, “The maneuverings of both France
and England around the question of the potential for the female transmission of a
59
�bloodline reveal…the political difficulty of establishing precedents and mechanisms for
excluding women’s transmission of bloodline and thus birthright” (27).
In the context of this anxiety, the good girl continues the male patriline while the
bad girl’s existence and power threatens it. With this perspective, it is not surprising that
Custance enjoys the position of good girl in The Man of Law’s Tale. She is young and
fertile, and thus her existence has the greatest potential to continue the patriline by
providing her husband with male heirs. In this light, it is all the more devastating to the
throne of Northumberland when Donegild sends Custance off in Alla’s absence, for
Custance’s departure eliminates the potential for the creation of additional heirs and
estranges Alla’s only living heir. Also, at several points later in the tale, Maurice’s
uncanny resemblance to his mother is pointed out. Florschuetz argues that this inclusion
and Maurice’s eventual acquisition of the Roman throne display Chaucer’s favoring of
the maternal influence in the bloodline (55). However, it is more plausible that Maurice’s
unmistakable resemblance to his mother is only a necessary link that facilitates the
rediscovery of a suitable heir that can continue the patrilines of the two kingdoms, for
Custance’s eligibility for the Roman throne is bypassed for that of her son, and the
Northumberland bloodline has secured a patriline with the eventual reuniting of Alla and
Custance. We can see what Florschuetz viewed as a preference for the maternal
bloodline instead as a necessary bending of the ideal for the continuity of patrilineal rule
on a grander scale.
Likewise, the patrilineal ideal also lends insight as to why the Sowdanesse and
Donegild are portrayed as evil in the tale. At the time of the tale, their husbands are
already deceased and they can no longer produce heirs, and so their potential to continue
the patriline has also diminished. Therefore, their influence over the crown is viewed
suspiciously as no longer being constructive. Concerning royal woman such as the
Sowdanesse and Donegild, there was “an obsessive anxiety that maternal influence will
manifest in the heir to an overwhelming degree, displacing paternal influence altogether”
(Florschuetz 26). The Sowdanesse and Donegild are manifestations of this anxiety, and
thus, it is not surprising that they are portrayed as inherently evil. Their influences upon
their royal sons are threatening and murderous. As Florschuetz notes, the narrator
compares the Sowdanesse to Semiramis and Eve, both figural mothers who proved
damaging to their offspring (51). Their threatening presence as unsupervised royal
widows is shown when they are overlooked by their king sons. When his mother feigns
the desire to covert to Christianity, the Sultan is pleased and wrongly believes that there
is no reason to watch over her. He even lets her greet Custance, deliver her to the palace,
60
�and plan a grand feast, without his input or supervision. Additionally, after
consummating their marriage, Alla travels to Scotland to fight his enemies, also leaving
his royal mother without supervision. As demonstrated by the ensuing events of the tale,
“leaving his kingdom while his reign was still in a vulnerable position” was a grievous
oversight on Alla’s part (Nachtwey 112).
Additionally, drawing from Gayle Rubin and Lévi-Strauss’s work on the role
that the exchange of woman plays within the social unit, Dinshaw points out another
contrast between good Custance and her bad mothers-in-law. Custance accepts her role
as an object of exchange, most visibly as a precious gift unifying West and East through
her arranged marriage to the Sultan of Syria (Dinshaw 278). In this role, Custance is a
crucial tool in strengthening patriarchal rule, and is thus portrayed as the good girl. On
the other hand, women such as the Sowdanesse actively destroy attempts to fortify and
link patriarchal powers. By destroying the Sultan and Custance’s union and forcing
Custance to sail the perilous seas in a rudderless boat, the Sowdanesse causes Custance’s
father, the emperor of Rome, to attack Syria in retaliation. Due to the Sowdanesse’s
violent rejection of the exchange of Custance as a means for a patriarchal alliance
between West and East, she is positioned as one of the tale’s bad girls.
It is no coincidence that the two women portrayed as evil are those that are most
easily disposable. In this competitive binary, divides exist between women, forcing them
to stand alone within the royal family, so that they are more easily blamed, replaced, and
eliminated. In particular, the Sowdanesse and Donegild’s age and widowhood makes
them very vulnerable to replacement. However consciously, the Sowdanesse and
Donegild react to Custance as a threat because her presence emphasizes this status.
Custance will replace them as the woman who has the most influence and power over the
crown. In this way, the patriline structure perpetuates the madonna-whore binary by
pitting women against one another. Florschuetz attributes Donegild’s active disruption of
Alla and Custance’s marriage to her perception of Custance as a stranger without a
knowable past and lineage that may contaminate the royal line’s “dynastic integrity” (49).
However, considering Donegild’s desperateness as an easily replaceable widowed
woman, we can expect that her offense at Custance’s ‘strangeness’ is only a guise for her
internal fear of being replaced and losing influence. Within the woman-against-woman
structure that the patriline mandates, the female must act self-centeredly for the sake of
her relevance and survival. The Christian Custance is also an outsider in her planned
marriage to the Sultan, thus it is not surprising that the Sowdanesse reacted in the same
way that Donegild later does.
61
�The madonna-whore binary is an integral part of the ‘matter of woman’ in
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as it is evidently present throughout several of the tales,
including in The Knight’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and The Clerk’s Tale. In
particular, the Wife of Bath emphasizes the madonna-whore binary in her prologue when
she tells her fellow pilgrims that one of her husbands used to taunt her by reading from
his “book of wikked wyves” (l. 685).
Commenting on this she says, “For trusteth wel, it is an impossible/ That any
clerk wol speke good of wyves,/ But if it be of hooly seintes lyves” (ll. 689-690).
Beyond doubt, Custance is like one of these ‘hooly seintes’ in her unwavering Christian
faith, humble acceptance of male power, status as an asset to the patriline, and reflection
of chivalric values, and thus, will gain favor under a patriarchal perception of goodness.
Additionally, under this view, the Sowdanesse and Donegild are exaggerations of the rest
of womanhood that easily falls to the devil’s folly, disrupts patriarchal power, and is
portrayed as disposable and replaceable within the patriline. The Man of Law’s Tale
reflects the historical and cultural conflicts concerning female power that would have
been fresh in the minds of Chaucer and his contemporaries. The tale also facilitates a
deeper understanding about how the madonna-whore binary operates within society to
create competitive female relationships, preventing female unity and perpetuating a
system of patriarchal power.
Works Cited
Dinshaw, Carolyn. “New Approaches to Chaucer.” The Cambridge Companion to
Chaucer. Eds. Piero Boitani and Jill Mann. Cambridge University Press, 2003. 270-289.
Print.
Chaucer, Geoffry. The Man of Law’s Tale. “The Canterbury Tales Complete.” Ed. Larry
D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. 71-85. Print.
---. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. “The Canterbury Tales Complete.” Ed. Larry D.
Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. 71-85. Print.
Florschuetz, Angela. “‘A Mooder He Hath, but Fader Hath He Noon.’ Constructions of
Genealogy in the Clerk’s Tale and the Man of Law’s Tale.” The Chaucer Review 44.1
(2009): 25-60. Project MUSE. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
62
�Nachtwey, Gerald. “Geoffroi de Charny’s Book of Chivalry and Violence in The Man of
Law’s Tale and The Franklin’s Tale.” Essays in Medieval Studies 20 (2003): 107-120.
Project MUSE. Web. 11 Oct 2012.
Rose, Christine. M. “Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale: Teaching through the Sources.”
College Literature 28.2 (2001): 155-77. MLA International Library. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
63
�The Economic Role in Shaping
the Modern Egyptian Family
Pakinam Mekki (Biology)1
The economy often has an influence on the family institution (Olmsted, 2011).
In particular, during the first half of the twentieth century, the Egyptian economy
depended heavily on agriculture and many Egyptians were farmers (Nagy, 1972). In rural
households, children held an economic value, as they helped their parents cultivate crops,
maintain livestock and assist in the home. The advent of low-cost agrarian technology to
Egyptians in the 1940s considerably reduced the amount of labor needed to be performed
by both children and adults (Levy, 1985) As a result, many children and young adults
moved from rural regions to metropolitan cities, like Cairo and Alexandria, in pursuit of
education and employment (Levy, 1985). In addition, the discovery of oil in Egypt
boosted the Egyptian economy, creating numerous factory jobs for unskilled workers.
These finite opportunities led to the influx of rural workers in Cairo, which limited the
availability of resources and jobs to the unskilled laborer (Olmsted, 2011). Faced with
severe economic tribulations, like lost wages, many women were adamant to enter the
work force to not only help their families but to gain independence. With time, female
employment became a norm in modern Egyptian lives; women were no longer confined
to child-rearing or domestic labor (Ibrahim, 1981). In response to economic conditions,
my maternal grandmother, Amal El-Zahaby, embraced new familial norms in the
twentieth century (Olmsted, 2011; Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20,
2012).
Prior to the advent of low-cost agrarian technology to small farmers, Egypt had
been a rural state, where child labor was essential (Nagi, 1972). Consider a family, which
consists of a husband, a wife, an eight-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, who own
a small parcel of land. The man and his son would maintain their crops manually by
irrigating the land, distributing seeds, removing weeds, and harvesting crops. On the
other hand, the woman and her daughter would maintain a clean house and barn, milk
cows and goats, and make various cheeses and butters. In this labor-intensive household,
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Jean Halley for SO301: The Family.
64
�unpaid child labor held an economic value and was integral for family survival (Neveen
Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). For that reason, many families had up
to twelve children. In fact, a 1960 census revealed that ninety percent of child laborers
were working in agriculture (Nagi, 1972).
Nagi (1972) argued that while child labor in rural areas was prevalent in Egypt,
it was steadily decreasing. In 1957, ninety-two percent of individuals between six and
nineteen years of age living in rural areas were employed. In contrast, that figure
decreased to seventy percent in 1960 (Nagi, 1972). Levy (1985) argued that the decreased
need for child labor in rural Egypt was the result of various developments in Egyptian
agriculture. Specifically, the advent of mechanical tools, like tractors, significantly
reduced the manual labor needed to plow, irrigate, and harvest crops. Government
policies also encouraged farmers to adopt these tools. They provided low-cost diesel oil,
levied import customs off foreign equipment, and allowed farmers to borrow tools, like
irrigation pumps, from village banks at low rates (Levy, 1985). Moreover, new crop
patterns reflected the use of these tools. The new equipment worked well with the
cultivation of fruit, vegetables and rice, instead of crops, like cotton, which required
immense manual labor. This, coupled with government-mandated primary schooling of
children, effectively reduced the number of children in the rural work force (Levy, 1985).
For that reason, many children along with family members emigrated from rural regions
in Egypt to cities, like Cairo and Alexandria, to obtain good education and careers with
good prospects (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012).
The mechanization of Egyptian agriculture influenced my maternal
grandmother’s family. Amal El-Zahaby, my grandmother, was the youngest of ten
children (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). She was born on
April 9, 1937 in a small, rural village named Quesna to an affluent family. Her family
was one of Quesna’s first to incorporate the use of heavy machinery on its farm. The use
of tractors and irrigation pumps increased their crop yields dramatically, and in turn their
annual income as well, allowing them to forgo the need for child agrarian labor. As a
result, Amal’s parents were able to fund her siblings’ and her own primary and secondary
education (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). In 1955, Amal
was the first woman in Quesna to enroll in Cairo University. To many traditional and
patriarchal villagers, the idea of a woman receiving a college education was a radical one;
they perceived that a woman’s role should only be confined to child-rearing, domestic
labor, and serving her husband. It is considered dishonorable and shameful for a woman
to refuse to abide by her traditional roots or beliefs. Nonetheless, Amal left Quesna with
65
�her parents’ blessings to pursue a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering at Cairo
University (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). This experience
as an affluent young woman entering a predominantly male university helped establish an
outlook different than those of her predecessors. She believed that women should receive
the same educational opportunities as men did. Indeed, her parents’ increased wealth as a
result of adopting mechanical agrarian equipment influenced their family’s acceptance of
nontraditional norms, or ways of living (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March
20, 2012).
In addition to the mechanization of agriculture, the Egyptian economy expanded
and shifted from agrarian-based to a service-based one after the discovery of oil in the
Middle East in the second half of the twentieth century. Oil was exported to western
countries at a substantial price, thereby stimulating the Egyptian economy. Such a
stimulation in the economy led to an increase in minimum wage, health care quality,
government-funded education, job opportunities as well as the establishment of numerous
factories in Cairo and Alexandria (Olmsted, 2011). To the unemployed or the
underemployed rural workers, Egypt’s urban centers offered them a myriad of
opportunities. Consequently, Egypt’s urban population increased. In particular, one out of
five Egyptians lived in the country’s urban centers in 1950. Conversely, in 1960, the
urban population increased to one in four persons (Abu-Lughod, 1965). This population
influx led to the limited allocation of resources, such as education, food, health care and
employment, to many unskilled urban laborers (Ibrahim, 1981).
In response to these adverse economic conditions, the Egyptian family structure
and norms were redefined in the second half of the twentieth century with the entry of
women in the workforce (Olmsted, 2011). Ibrahim (1980) wrote that during the first half
of the twentieth century, urban women tended to “support the conservative stereotypes of
women as secluded, nonproductive and dependent.” A 1974 study showed that many
educated and illiterate women did not participate in the labor force. At that time, female
employment threatened the loss of family honor, which was integral to every family. For
that reason, only men were expected to work and bring income while women were
confined to domesticity and child-rearing. Beginning in the 1970s, however, many
families faced economic pressure, as the demand for a limited number of jobs soared
(Ibrahim 1980). In fact, the ratio of jobs to applicants for inexperienced positions in
factories was one to thirteen. Egyptian families, many of which act as a decision-making
unit, were forced to make pragmatic decisions to alleviate their economic distress. To
increase the household income to meet the family’s perceived needs, each family had to
66
�make one of these three choices: the male breadwinner could adopt a second job; male
children could be withdrawn from their schools to enter the workforce; or, wives and
older daughters could gain access to jobs for the first time (Ibrahim 1980).
Many women viewed their family’s economic distress as an opportunity to enter
the labor force and to feel liberated and independent (Ibrahim, 1981). However, they
needed to ask the permission of the prominent male figures (husbands, older brothers, or
fathers). The husband, for example, had to weigh his options. If his wife went to work,
she would contribute to the family income and meet all the family’s perceived needs and
demands. Nonetheless, her involvement in the workforce can bring dishonor and shame
on the family name, which is an undesirable consequence (Ibrahim, 1981). A twenty-two
year old girl reported that,
“Work for a girl was thought to be shameful then. [My family and I] told the
neighbors that I was going to school, and so I had to carry some books with me
each day. My mother was afraid that no suitor would look at me if he knew
about the job” (Ibrahim, 1981).
In addition, a thirty-nine year old factory worker and mother of five accounted her
experience,
“[My husband] did not want me to work at first because I thought I would not be
able to organize the household – I’d be too tired…My husband is a good
provider, thanks be to God, but his salary is fixed and our children were needing
more of everything. When I told him about the opening here at first, it was a flat
no. We argued day and night until I convinced him…Certainly, he’d preferred
me to remain a housewife but, in the condition of today, people like us require
two salaries to get by” (Ibrahim, 1981).
Indeed, the female entry to the Egyptian workforce was a tedious one, but over time, it
became a phenomenon that was more socially accepted (Ibrahim, 1981). In fact, a study
demonstrated that between 1955 and 1964, fifty percent of families opposed their
daughters entering the labor force. Conversely, between 1971 and 1977, eighty-six
percent of families encouraged their daughters to pursue jobs for future economic
security. Indeed, in a patriarchal society, turbulent economic conditions allowed for the
employment of women to become a predominant feature of family life (Ibrahim, 1981).
After graduating from Cairo University with a bachelor’s degree, Amal pursued
a master’s and a doctorate in agricultural engineering (Neveen Gobba, personal
communication, March 20, 2012). In 1964, she was hired to work in Egypt’s Ministry of
Agriculture as a principal investigator, or a scientific researcher. She was able to conduct
67
�and publish research concerning the role of nutrition of livestock development as well as
develop strategies to improve and propel Egyptian agriculture forward, such as the
rotation of crops. Certainly, she was one of very few women to work in the ministry;
many of her colleagues and superiors were male. However, Amal gained their respect, as
she was confident in herself and her abilities as well as dedicated to being a great scientist
(Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). In 1965, she got married to
Ibrahim Gobba, a young administrator in the ministry, and soon had three children:
Neveen (born 1968), Hatem (born 1970) and Shereen (born 1973). Amal continued to
work in the ministry until retirement, and she encouraged all of her children to pursue
higher education. In particular, Neveen, my mother, earned a doctorate in physical
therapy and rehabilitation and was hired as an assistant professor of biomechanics in
Cairo University in 1995. Hatem, my uncle, became a well-known interventional
cardiologist in Egypt. Shereen, my aunt, became an accountant and was hired by the
Ministry of Justice (Neveen Gobba, personal communication, March 20, 2012). In a
larger context, the Egyptian family structure was redefined and reestablished in the
second half of the twentieth century, in response to economic distress (Olmsted, 2011).
Women sought the opportunity to enter and be accepted as members in the work force.
As a result, many of the traditional and conservative ideas, which portray women as
subservient and dependent on males, were let go, and female employment was accepted
as integral to society and family survival (Ibrahim, 1981).
Works Cited
Abu-Lughod, J. L. (1965). Urbanization in Egypt: Present state and future prospects.
Economic Development & Cultural Change, 13(3), 313-343.
Gobba, N. (2012, March 20). Interview conducted by P Mekki [Personal Interview].
Amal El-Zahaby’s Education and Career.
Ibrahim, B. (1981). Family strategies: A perspective on women's entry to the labor force
in Egypt. International Journal of Sociology, 11(2), 234-249.
Levy, V. (1985). Cropping pattern, mechanization, child labor and fertility behavior in a
farming economy: Rural Egypt. Economic Development & Cultural Change, 33 (4), 777791.
68
�Nagi, M. (1972). Child labor in rural Egypt. Rural Sociology, 37(4), 623-628.
Olmsted, J. (2011). Norms, economic conditions and household formation: A case study
of the Arab world. History of the Family, 16(4), 401-415.
69
�Gustav Klimt: An Artist’s Evolution
Through Freud’s Stages of Consciousness
Erik Arntzen (Arts Administration and Art History)1
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was a Viennese artist known as “the son of the turn
of the century”. The president of the Secessionist movement, Klimt is most recognizable
for taking risks through new media and the extravagantly portrayed themes of raw
sexuality, death, and the carnal desires of man. However, before assuming this role,
Klimt was known for academic and decorative styles through his ceiling paintings on the
Ringstrasse and other commissioned works. It was the spark of the Secession that lead
him to creating his more avant-garde paintings. Klimt’s journey through art weaves a
structure that connects the conventional and the unconventional, the conservative and the
unrestrained.
Klimt compares greatly to Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, the human mind
contains three layers: a consciousness, a preconscious, and an unconscious. Using this
model of the mind as a motif, my paper will draw attention to Klimt’s progression as an
artist through three phases of his career: consciousness relating to his academic career in
ceiling paintings and commissions; preconscious emphasizing the period between the two
extremes during the formation of the Secession; and the unconscious seen in Klimt’s later
works, combining portraiture and abstracted, dreamlike, and mystical elements with
darker themes: “The remarkable insight that characterized Klimt’s later work was
contemporaneous with Freud’s psychological studies and presaged the inward turn that
would pervade all fields of inquiry in Vienna 1900.” (Kandel, 2012, p. 6).
Before discussing the artistic evolution of Klimt, it is important to understand
his relation to Freud. Sigmund Freud was a Viennese psychologist who was revolutionary
in his theories concerning the human mind. It was in the late nineteenth century that
Freud began developing his ideas on levels of consciousness, developing into future
theories that demonstrate man’s development in “psychosexual stages” (Rennison, 2001).
In his work with treating emotional disorders, Freud discovered that there were many
1Written
under the direction of Drs. Laura Morowitz and Katica Urbanc for the team-taught
honors ILC entitled Cities and Perversities: Art and Literature in Turn-of-the-Century Paris,
Berlin, and Vienna.
70
�issues that could not be explained by normal, conventional means. Although he was not
the first to study the unconscious mind, Freud did place more emphasis and stressed its
importance on its influence on conscious behavior. This is referred to as a psychoanalytic
approach to psychology (Griggs, 2010).
Freud believed that the human mind has three levels, or three parts of the mind’s
awareness; the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. Freud demonstrates this
model as taking the form of an iceberg:
“In the iceberg model of the mind, the small part above water is our conscious
mind; the part just below the surface is the preconscious; and the major portion, hidden
below the water is the unconscious. A person has access only to the conscious and
preconscious levels of awareness. The conscious is what the person is presently thinking
about, and the preconscious is information that the person could bring into conscious
awareness” (Griggs, 2010, p. 291).
Freud’s model suggests that what we are aware of is but a small percentage of
the larger bank of thought humans possess. The consciousness is the basic surface of the
human mind and incorporates short-term memory, a handful of components for the mind
to remember. The middle layer, the preconscious, acts as a buffer between the conscious
and unconscious, serving as the mechanism to repress unconscious thoughts and desires.
Essentially, our consciousness only scratches the surface of the anxiety and complexity
kept in the darkness of our unconscious. The unconscious is difficult to define because of
its cryptic nature. It contains the mind’s id, the unrestrained personality feature, as well as
sexual identity, complexes, inner angst, and other darker themes of the mind. What is
certain to Freud is that the majority of our thoughts and personality are largely
unconscious; only certain acts are due to a purely conscious and rational state.
Understanding Freud makes it clear that the reason we understand and are aware of base
desires is because they constantly find ways to permeate the conscious mind (Rennison,
2001).
To understand the similarities between Freud’s model of the mind and Klimt,
one must examine who Klimt was during this period and what he represented in the art
world. The son of a goldsmith, Gustav Klimt began his career at a very young age in the
Kunstgewerbeschule or the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna. Before the Secession
movement and the radical changes in portraiture after 1900, Klimt was a commissioned
academic artist who painted ceilings of buildings in the Ringstrasse and other privatized
works meant for homes or the Salon. He worked primarily to earn a living through “his
successes as a decorator….his eclectic ability to evoke a range of historical manners,
71
�from Florentine to Egyptian, and his private production of portraits and allegories.”
(Varnedoe, 1986, p. 150). As his curiosity increased beyond the boundaries of academic
art, the events of the Secessionist movement, along with the death of his brother, allowed
the birth of a style all his own. The Gustav Klimt of 1897 until his death comprised the
apex of his work in both public outrage and individual identity. This was the period
where the true Klimt surfaced into Viennese society.
In Freud’s model of the human mind, the conscious mind represents one’s
immediate awareness and understanding of norms. In this case, Klimt’s early academic
and decorative style from the Kunstgewerbschule represents Vienna’s consciousness. The
Viennese public at this time had highly conservative morals and values. Therefore, the
academic style was praised and exonerated, while other art forms were considered crude
for their lack of aesthetic and technical detail. In Klimt’s Altar of Dionysus (Figure 1) and
the Auditorium of the Altes Burgtheater (Figure 2), both works represent what Viennese
society considers aesthetically beautiful and right for art. They fully embody the
academic technique. Indeed, these pieces are meant to represent an identification with the
Viennese culture he was commissioned to please; a society which exonerated art as
drama. (Schorske, 1982, p. 31)
The Altar of Dionysus (1886-88) represents Vienna’s conscious mind because it
encompasses all the traits of academic style embraced by Viennese society. It was one of
many ceiling paintings for buildings in the Ringstrasse, this specifically set in the
Burgtheater. Formally, the painting exemplifies technique and academic style. There is a
strong emphasis on the historical fashion of painting. The nudes lying sensually amongst
a collection of ancient treasures suggest a Greco-Roman narrative with styles generated
from Renaissance and Neo-Classical tradition. As far as the women themselves, their
elongated pose and undisturbed beauty is void of individual identity. The style allows the
figures to function as symbols of a greater scheme. Most certainly they are muses or
goddesses who serve Dionysus in wine, dance, or of ritual madness. A fanciful, leafy
border, showing inspirations from the Rococo decorative style, surrounds the narrative.
The strong sense of allegorical painting and a rebirth of the glorified painting styles such
as Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo prove that this piece demonstrates what was an
appealing and popularly acceptable art form.
In the Auditorium of the Altes Burgtheater (1888), the piece significantly
represents Vienna’s conscious as a representation of its emphasis on order and structure.
The piece is a highly realistic view of the space. All of the figures remain posed in perfect
alignment that allows the viewer to see the scene in its entirety. There is a certain
72
�elegance that the piece captures due to how much space Klimt provides, as well as
realistically capturing the décor of the theater itself and its occupants. Klimt chose to
capture the drama not of the actors on the Burgtheater stage, but the attendants who are
involved in their own thoughts; the real drama was the audience observing from the seats
and boxes (Kandel, 2012, p. 6). There is an emphasis on technical detail in painting
figures as well as architecture in the academic style. It is crafted so finely, that even the
people are organized in perfect ratios, contained in order by rows and boxes. It hints at an
overarching theme for Viennese society, which praises its conservative nature.
For Klimt and other Viennese artists, the fin-de-siècle was a shifting point in
representing Vienna’s preconscious mind. According to Freud, the preconscious mind
serves as a buffer to separate the darker desires from the conscious mind. The
unconscious thoughts can sometimes leak through the preconscious and form in the
conscious awareness, because the desire is so great. The next stage of Gustav Klimt’s
artistic evolution defines the moment when the artists begin to find their own voice and
style to translate through art. For Klimt, the arena of Vienna’s preconscious mind was the
Secessionist movement.
A self-explanatory term, the Secessionists sought to create art that broke away
from academic conventions. It was a movement that encapsulated a new generation of
artists who had wished to examine life through different media and style. Though the
mission was to find a new identity in art, the members were still holding onto their
culture and what they had learned, however new their work would appear.
(Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska & Mizia, 2006, p. 217). The Secessionist movement for
Klimt would serve as the primary transition between his old and new styles, specifically
in his commission for the University paintings. Until this point, Klimt was lost in a world
where the art he produced was not fully expressing the themes he would concretely
display in his later works (Varnedoe, 1986, p. 151). The sketches for drafting the
University paintings came about during the birth of the Secession. Klimt’s works first
received a shocked and undesirable response from the Viennese public. The art he had
created was seen as vulgar representations for the schools he was commissioned to
decorate and exalt. These works, and the responses of Viennese society, suggest that they
bring about unconscious elements which we wish to repress. This demonstrates a
similarity with the function of the preconscious mind actively repressing the unconscious,
while some forms of anxiety tend to slip into the conscious level. Specifically for
Medicine (Figure 3) and Philosophy (Figure 4), there is an interesting mixture of styles
73
�that can be traced back to Klimt’s old academic style and serve as a foreshadowed
example of what Klimt’s art would ultimately become.
Medicine and Philosophy share similarities that make them both representations
of Vienna’s preconscious mind. The first is the mixture of old and new Klimt. Like the
preconscious mind balancing the upper and lower sections of awareness, both pieces have
old and new styles incorporated into the composition. From the academic style, there is a
value placed on the attention to detail on anatomy and portraiture in the figures. Also, the
old style is seen in the works’ use of allegorical representation; each figure in the work
holds a larger meaning or is personified as a theme. Conversely, the more avant-garde
Klimt is seen through his use of abstraction and expressive quality. This can be noted
specifically in Medicine through the curving, vine-like structures that make up the central
woman’s garb, or in the atmospheric haze of the face in the background of Philosophy.
Medicine and Philosophy, in this case, mean to suggest the darker themes through a
quality of the unconscious material emerging into the conscious conventions of the
academic.
These works serve as Klimt’s representations of Vienna’s preconscious mind
through the themes which they individually reveal. Medicine (1900-07) was meant to
glorify the wonders of modern medicine; to show how man has overcome death and
sickness through science. In this painting, Gustav Klimt conjures the opposite view. The
overall composition and elements of the work suggest that death is inevitable for all of
mankind. (Marlowe-Storkovich, 2003, p. 231) One of the strongest formal aspects of the
work is how Klimt uses space to unveil this message. The viewer can feel a certain
discomfort from the asymmetry of the lone nude on the left versus the cluster of ghosts,
nymphs and tormented souls on the right. There is a sense of hopelessness and futility
that permeates the work. This ultimately brings the viewer to the conclusion that nothing
lasts forever; medicine can only sustain man’s predestined fate.
Philosophy (1899-1907) is similar to Medicine in that it also serves to take an
alternative vision of a doctrine that proved to be rather unconventional. The piece
represents a negative representation of the discipline. It asks the viewer to understand the
duress Philosophy places on the human psyche. On the left side of the piece, there lies a
tower of spiraling nudes, combined together in a state of torment shown by their pose and
buried faces. It is almost as if man is spiraling downward in trying to understand the
questions through undefined answers. Peering through the background is what looks to be
a large face and remnants of what appears to be a body. The atmospheric and hazy
quality of this figure suggests it is between two worlds, taking on an ethereal role as a
74
�subject of the piece (Nebehay, 1994, p. 69). A philosopher as represented by Klimt has
few answers yet many questions. Overall, the composition of the work suggests that the
philosopher is a man who is doomed to lead an unfulfilled life. It is a profession that is
subject to inner torment, for constantly circling around questions that can never be fully
answered.
The last stage of Gustav Klimt’s artistic evolution focuses on the apex of his
career in fin-de-siècle Vienna. It was during this period that Klimt began to immerse
himself into representing a darker psyche through his art. These early twentieth-century
works, promoted from the well established Wiener Sezession and the Klimt Group,
represent many aspects of the unconscious mind as defined by Freud, including
unacceptable sexual urges, fears, unfavorable desires, and shameful memories repressed
by the preconscious. Most importantly, Klimt was looking for an outlet to express the
unconscious nature and how it can affect conscious awareness and behavior: “He became
a painter of the unconscious.” (Kandel, 2012, pp. 118-19).
As seen in Freud’s Iceberg Model, the unconscious mind takes the largest
percentage of the three parts. This suggests that we are not fully aware of our true nature,
leaving many reasons behind our actions unanswerable unless tapped into through means
of psychotherapy (hypnosis, free association, Rorschach inkblot tests, etc.). Therefore,
the works from the new Klimt represent Vienna’s unconscious mind because they both
identify with these darker repressed themes and make up most of his repertoire. Three
major works that capture these themes are Judith (Figure 5), The Beethoven Frieze: The
Hostile Powers (Figure 6), and Death and Life (Figure 7).
Klimt’s Judith (1901) is one of his more suggestive pieces that were commonly
labeled as pornography. The work represents larger themes of uninhibited sexual desire
and the sexuality of the modern woman in many ways. Her pose and facial gesture
suggest she is captured in a constant state of ecstasy, teasing the viewer by exposing one
breast in a sensual manner. Her jeweled choker combined with an abstractly patterned
robe connects Judith to a woman of unconventional standards and exoticism. Her
surrounding environment is made up of abstracted natural imagery set with gold leaf and
rich yellows and browns. She is captivating and enthralling in her gaze, many of the
qualities seen in the femme fatale. Ultimately Klimt expresses Judith as a woman of the
unconscious expressing deep carnal desires that fight against the conventional Viennese
mentality. It is her overt sexuality and this aloof nature she possesses that definitely
would have shocked and scared the Viennese public, spawning different kinds of arousal
for men especially. From a Freudian perspective, Judith would arouse negative reactions
75
�due to the unconscious desires and anxiety leaking through to the conscious mind, and
that in fact the audience has these desires dormant in our deeper psyche whether they
wish it or not. (Kandel, 2012, pp. 121-23).
The Hostile Powers (1902) is a section of a larger work by Klimt called The
Beethoven Frieze, meant to physically represent Beethoven’s music through visual art.
Among some of the critical statements of the work, the general reaction was labeling the
art as obscene with a strong emphasis on exposing man’s deepest desires and longings
(Vergo, 1993, pp. 71-72). In many ways, this section of the frieze contains standards
which separate the figures into separate categories; different vices such as lust, greed, or
vanity. On the sides of the piece lay mystical nymphs in contorted overtly sexual poses,
exposing the breasts and pubic areas to further emphasize the raw sexuality at play. As a
motif seen in other works, the background and clothing are abstracted through the
curving snakelike vines and patterns. The main focal point of the piece is the large beast
that is surrounded by the women. The Hostile Powers takes the form of a narrative work
from an Ancient period in that there is a clear hierarchy of importance in the way the
figures are organized. The setting, monsters, and mystical creatures overemphasize a
representation of dreams (Dreams to a psychoanalyst are where the unconscious motives
behind our actions lay dormant). The elements of the painting ultimately represent our
darker motives and desires that reside in the unconscious mind.
The final piece I chose to portray representations of Vienna’s unconscious mind
is a work that incorporates the interplay of life and death. In one of his later works
entitled Death and Life (1911), Klimt portrays the dichotomy and correspondence
between the two extremes. Through the formal qualities of the work, the piece suggests a
general representation for how the unconscious can affect the conscious layer. The first
to note is the use of space and how balance is achieved. Klimt organizes the figures in an
asymmetrical fashion, death residing left and life on the right. The Life portion takes up a
heavy percentage of the work, expressing various generations of people interwoven
together. The colors complement each other through a balance of light and dark with
warm and cool. With life there is love, energy, and progression, while death is cold,
unattached, and stagnant. Both sides are also engulfed in textile-like patterns that suggest
the formation of something woven or quilted; there is unity between the two entities
(Kandel, 2012, pp. 122-23). It is evident based on the work that Death is an ultimate fate
that waits in store for man and is a part of nature which we cannot change. A Freudian
psychologist would relate this piece to the aggression and anxiety that lies deep within
the human unconscious; otherwise known as Thanatos. This suggests that as death
76
�constantly coexists with life, so does the repressed and unacceptable thoughts lurking
behind the dark veil of the unconscious mind.
The artistic evolution of Gustav Klimt can be related to each level of Sigmund
Freud’s scale of awareness for various reasons. Like any creative genius, one can notably
understand such expression and similarities by using their work as primary examples.
Each piece discussed was related to what Klimt had learned during the period it was
produced, as well as a reaction to his views of society as he began to establish himself in
the art world and break away from the academic standard and the Viennese norm. In his
early career, his skill was a reflection of what was culturally acceptable by Vienna at the
time; painting Vienna’s conscious mind. During the Secession, Klimt experimented with
darker themes while keeping aspects of technique from his past, buffering between the
accepted and the unconventional; painting Vienna’s preconscious mind. And lastly, his
more avant-garde work proved to successfully incorporate man’s deeper, more instinctive
desires through art, even though it was commonly deemed provocative, pornographic,
and obscene; painting Vienna’s unconscious mind. All of these components work
together to paint a picture of Klimt’s progression as an artist in fin-de-siècle Vienna. The
analysis of his art forms a new “Iceberg Model”, one made of oil paint and gold leaf.
Works Cited
Griggs, R. A. (2010). Psychology: A Consise Introduction. New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
Kandel, E. R. (2012). The Age of Insight:The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in
Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. New York, NY, USA: Random
House Publishing Group.
Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, S., & Mizia, P. (2006). "Sztuka", "Wiener Secession",
"Mánes". The Central European Art Triangle. Artibus et Historiae , 27 (53), 220-259.
Marlowe-Storkovich, T. (2003). Medicine by Gustav Klimt. Artibus et Historiae , 24
(47), 231-252.
Nebehay, C. M. (1994). Gustav Klimt: From Drawing to Painting. London, England:
Thames and Hudson, Ltd.
77
�Rennison, N. (2001). Sigmund Freud. Harpenden, GBR: Pocket Essentials.
Schorske, C. E. (1982). Mahler and Klimt: Social Experience and Artistic Evolution.
Daedalus , 111 (3), 29-50.
Varnedoe, K. (1986). Vienna 1900: Art, Architecture, and Design. New York, NY, USA:
The Museum of Modern Art.
Vergo, P. (1993). Art in Vienna 1898-1918: Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele, and their
contemporaries. London, England: Phaidon Press, Inc.
78
�Figure 1: Gustav Klimt. Altar of Dionysus. Oil on stucco. Illustration for staircase of the
Burgtheater 1886-8. Vienna, Burgtheater
Figure 2: Gustav Klimt. Auditorium of the Altes Burgtheater, Vienna. 1888. Gouache, 32
¼ X 36 ¼”. Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien
79
�Figure 3: Gustav Klimt. Medicine. 1900-07. Oil on canvas, 14’ 1 ¼ ” X 9’ 10 1/8”.
Destroyed
Figure 4: Gustav Klimt. Philosophy. 1903-07. Oil on canvas, 14’ 1 ¼” X 9’ 10 1/8”.
Destroyed
80
�Figure 5: Gustav Klimt. Judith. 1901. Oil on canvas, 60 ¼” x 52 3/8”. Österreichische
Galerie, Vienna.
Figure 6: Gustav Klimt. Beethoven Frieze: Detail from “The Hostile Powers”. 1902.
Casein, gold leaf, semiprecious stones, mother-of-pearl, gypsum, charcoal, pastel, and
pencil on plaster, 7’ 1” X 20’ 10 3/8”. Österreichische Galerie, Vienna.
81
�Figure 7: Gustav Klimt. Death and Life. 1911 Oil on canvas, 78” x 70.1”. Private
Collection, Vienna.
82
�Female or Not? Relational Aggression, Mixed Gender
Messages and Disability Limitations
Danielle Lucchese (Sociology)1
My three years in middle school proved to be what family members warned me it
would be, socially cruel. I was different from other students in every sense of the word. I
was a tomboy and hated the idea of makeup, skirts and footwear that was not a running
shoe. Still to this day, I believe that my years spent as a tomboy and the portrayal of my
gender as masculine can be attributed to my physical disability.
I was born with Hydrocephalus, when cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) does not drain
properly, resulting in built up pressure on the brain. As a result of the build up CSF on the
right side of my brain, my left side is significantly weaker. Some of the fluid also went
behind my optic nerve which triggered Nystagmus, an involuntary eye movement.
Between both my diagnoses, doctors were unsure if I would ever talk or walk, and as a
result, I received intense physical, occupational, and visual therapy until my high school
graduation. Although the various therapies helped my physical condition, they destroyed
any social connections I might have had with my classmates. For each therapy session I
missed class time, which marked me as different from my classmates because they never
missed class. I received school-based therapy because in the schools I attended, having a
disability was viewed as a problem that impacted my academics and needed to be
corrected. This is an example of what Bolt refers to as the Social Model of Disability,
which “holds that persons are impaired for a number of reasons, but that is only by
society that they are disabled” (Bolt, 2005).
Society has always viewed handicap individuals in terms of binaries, specifically,
“ability and “disability” (Gray, 2009). In other words one’s body either conforms to
society’s perception of normal and able or it does not. When one’s body is labeled
disabled, according to Grey, society believes it needs to be “cured,” “fixed,” or
“eliminated” (Gray, 2009). It is this discourse that has helped shape society’s mindset
toward disability. According to Harpur, “many people without impairments regard their
corporeal state as the natural and correct state of being” (Harpur, 2012). Since disabled
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Jean Halley for SO210: Growing Up Female.
83
�people have various limitations, either physically or mentally that differ from “normal”
individuals, they are viewed as not complying with the social norms created by society.
Ultimately, it is society that decides how to define disability as well as who is labeled as
such (Gray, 2009).
The definition of disability could change depending on how it is being assessed
and by whom. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, a
disability is defined as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or
more major life activities of such individual” (ADA, Sec. 12102). Which daily activities
are “major” as well as “substantial limitations” are determined by society thus, in
sociological terms, a disability, similar to other identities is “socially constructed” (Gray,
2009). Similar to disability, gender, especially for women and girls, is also created by
society.
Whether women acknowledge it or not, the society in which we live has defined
and still continues to define our gender, that is, who we are as women within the context
of the social. If one is biologically female, she is supposed to carry out her assigned
gender role to affirm this identity. Based on my life experiences, it is very clear that,
gender as well as gender roles is extremely embedded in our society. As women, we are
taught by society to be quiet, submissive, and constantly look beautiful. Today we still
struggle to voice our opinions or act on our desires, sexual or not. For if we do, we are
immediately challenged by both our male counterparts as well as other females. Drawing
from my past experiences, it is more likely that other women and girls will attempt to
reinforce the social boundaries created by society. The girls and young women who made
attempts to police my gender throughout my time in middle school and high school more
often than not used relational aggression as their primary method to try and keep me
within the social boundaries of my assigned gender role. Most of the females who
attempted to police my gender, were also physically handicapped thus relational
aggression was the only type of aggression that they had access to. Their physical
limitations in addition to traditional gender role denied them access to other forms of
aggression. In other words, physically handicapped females use relational aggression
because both traditional gender roles and their physical limitations deny them access to
other forms of aggression.
Relational aggression is emotional violence such as teasing, gossip, and body
language, meant to harm or even destroy an individual’s relationships with other people.
According to Werner et al (2005) and Mathieson et al. (2011) relational aggression is a
tactic used more among females than males. The reason for this is because society holds
84
�different expectations for women and girls than men and boys. Individuals who are
biologically female are also supposed to conform to the social expectations and
traditional gender roles which society has created to enforce their identity and role as
females. By having the ability to manipulate damage, and even destroy relationships
established by their classmates and colleagues, females gain power that is forbidden to
them otherwise. Social boundaries such as traditional gender roles forbid women and
girls from openly expressing aggression. When women and girls defy these traditional
gender roles, other females use tactics of relational aggression like the “slut” reputation in
an attempt to hold them within these social boundaries.
In her book, Leora Tanenbaum deconstructs what it means to be female and
labeled a slut. She unpacks the term, which is usually associated with promiscuous
women and girls and breaks it down as a derogatory term that has multiple meanings,
from the woman who develops early to the girl who expresses the slightest interest in a
boy another girl likes (Tanenbaum, 1999). Women and girls face this double standard on
a daily basis. Society will not let us express our desires or act or look the way we choose.
Males, on the one hand, face similar yet less social policing than women and girls do. For
example, men and boys are not permitted to cry or openly express sadness, for when this
occurs, they are viewed by society as weak and thus are not “real men.” As long as males
conform to the traditional gender roles, however, they hold significantly more social
power than females do. For example, men and boys are allowed and are often encouraged
as well as supported by society to express sexual desire. In contrast, women and girls are
discouraged and ultimately forbidden to express or act upon their sexual desires, for if
they do, they fall victim to the “slut” reputation as a consequence of challenging
traditional gender roles. Although the word slut was not specifically attached to my
identity, I was still going against the social norms that society constructed for females
and thus needed to be policed, by other females.
According to Marion Brown, the definition of girl and what it means to be female is
constantly changing. “Being a girl is individually and collectively produced and
reproduced, always shifting, neither static nor linear” (Brown, 2011). Being female
occurs in different ways and numerous factors have an impact on an individual’s
interpretation on what it means to be a girl or woman. In my case, being physically as
well as visually handicapped helped to define my understanding of what it meant to be
female. One of the first aspects of that helped me construct a definition of femininity was
the way girls were expected to dress.
85
�The various types of therapy I received required excessive climbing, jumping,
stretching, and even bicycle rides. Due to this, clothing associated with the traditional
female gender such as dresses, skirts, tights, or even ballet flats were outfits that I could
not wear to school because I received most of my therapy during the school day. As a
result of my lack of female appearance, girls began to tease me. There was one girl in
particular, that would do anything to criticize my appearance, especially the female
qualities which I lacked and she had.
We will call her Gia and similar to me, she was also physically disabled. Her
handicap however, was far worse than mine. She used a wheelchair to move around and
could barely move her upper body. She did however; comply with the female gender
roles that society has established.
Staying within the definition of femininity that society has constructed is
dependent on a variety of factors. According to Marion Brown, these factors include race,
class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and ability (Brown, 2011). The concept of
ability played a major role in the relationship between Gia and myself. For Gia, relational
aggression served as a way for her to police my gender as well as ability or in our case,
disability. The different degrees of ability were the root of her relationally aggressive
behavior toward me. Since my limitations were less severe I was more accepted within
society. This acceptance was something Gia wanted but was denied due to the severity of
her handicap.
The more severe the limitations the less of a chance a disabled individual has of
being perceived as “normal” by society. According to Gray, “virtually any bodily
difference could be perceived as disabling, but for particular social and historical reasons,
certain bodily features and characteristics get labeled as such” (Gray, 2009). Select
different abilities are labeled as disabilities because they outright deviate from the norm.
Our differences in ability and gender portrayal are what caused Gia to act relationally
aggressive toward me. It all started in our second year of middle school.
We were friends up until seventh grade when what it meant to be female became
different for each of us. For Gia, being female was about material items. She needed a
handbag to go with each of her outfits and a different hairstyle for everyday. Makeup of
all shades covered her face, blot powder, bronzer, black eyeliner, various pastel eye
shadows, all of which blended together in an attempt to mask her disability and allowed
her to hide behind female expectations that were socially constructed. In contrast,
growing up had the opposite affect on me.
86
�I did not use aspects of what it socially meant to be female to attempt to mask my
disability. My outfits were more masculine than feminine. Overalls, baggy sweatpants,
t-shirts, and sneakers were usually what I wore to school in order for me to be able to
move better in therapy. Once seventh grade started however, my appearance was
unacceptable to Gia.
I noticed a change in our friendship at the beginning of seventh grade. For the
first few months she was cold toward me. I tried not to pay attention to it, but her one
word sarcastic answers, eye rolls, and attempts to move to the other side of the hallway
whenever possible, were difficult to ignore. After a few weeks of this, I asked her why
she was acting this way. Her answer: I was not female enough, not like her.
Tanenbuam argues if females are not conforming to social norms then, “She’s not
one of us. She’s one of them. She is other ”(240, 1999). In my case, I was the “other” in
Gia’s eyes. My lack of femininity was what she used as a way to distinguish herself from
me. She wanted to make it clear to me that she had the femininity which I lacked, and she
attempted to prove her point through relational aggression.
Relational aggression is the result of rejection by individuals’ peers (Bowie, 2009).
Gia rejected me because of my lack of feminine qualities and once she expressed her
concern about my femininity, Gia would not let me hear the end of it. Everyday she
would comment about my ponytail, boot cut Gap jeans and whatever hooded sweatshirt
or t-shirt I decided to wear that day. When she was not complaining about my outfit, she
would comment that my nails were not polished, my hair was in a headband or that I
needed to cover my facial blemishes with make up. Her comments went in one ear and
out the other, until I looked in the mirror.
I had developed acne, a severe case of it. I thought I had managed to avoid this
considering I got my period and started developing breasts at a young age. The breakouts
came later and Gia made me well aware of them.
Everyday she would tell me how many new ones formed, where the noticeable ones
were and that I needed to wear makeup. It was at this time that I began to take notice and
finally I asked my mother to buy me makeup. I still wanted to look natural but conceal
the blemishes. When I walked into school the next day, Gia still was not satisfied and
tried to push me to wear black eyeliner and brightly colored eye shadows. I refused
because I did not want to accentuate my involuntary eyes movements. Looking back on
these attempts to police my gender, I realize that Gia’s cruelty toward me was also from
jealously of simple the things that I had the ability to do and she did not.
87
�In September 2006, our freshman year of high school, the dynamics of the
friendship between Gia and I changed once again. This time the critiques of my
appearance were not said to my face but through voicemails left by private numbers or
nasty comments that circulated not just among the students but teachers and
paraprofessionals as well. While she still made comments about my physical appearance,
she became focused more on my identity as a student athlete.
I tried out for and made the girls junior varsity volleyball team my freshman year
of high school. My volleyball coach was also the only physical education teacher who
taught adaptive physical education (A.P.E.) or gym class for students with disabilities.
Whenever we played volleyball in gym class, my coach would usually put Gia and I on
the same team so I could help her. Gia did not like the idea of me assisting her; in fact
this only caused her to become more aggressive.
Gia loved to remind me that I would never play on the same level as the other girls
on my team and that they would always get more time on the court. I was well aware of
this even before I tried out. When I first expressed interest in joining the team, my coach
expressed her concern for my safety because of my physical limitations. She made it
clear to me and later my mother, that some game situations would not be safe for me, and
as a result I would not receive as much time on the court as my teammates. This did not
discourage me; instead I became more determined to prove that I could be a part of the
team, despite my disabilities. My coach noticed my determination and I made the team.
The second Gia heard that I was a member of the volleyball team, she began to make
negative remarks regarding my new student-athlete identity. I still to this day believe that
her remarks were not only an attempt to police my gender, but also to try and prevent me
from coming to terms with my physical limitations.
Volleyball required a lot of endurance; running, jumping, diving; anything to
prevent the ball from hitting the floor. Five days a week of this and my body was pushing
back against the limitations, I was able to run and jump but not as quickly as the other
girls on the team. Diving was a bit tougher but I was still able to attempt it. On the other
hand, Gia could not do any of this. She was unable to move from the waist down. The
restrictions caused by her disability limited her to activities that were stereotypically
limited to individuals who were female.
Gia’s interests were extremely feminine. She enjoyed shopping for the latest styles
in clothes, putting on make up, creating new styles for her hair and discussing which lead
singers of the alternative rock bands we listened to were good looking. Although these
activities were socially limited to females, they were also the few options that were
88
�available to her. She could not participate in more male-orientated activities because of
her disability. For example, she could not play sports such as basketball because she was
unable to run or lift her arms high enough to shoot the ball into the hoop. On the other
hand, I was able to move between the gender boundaries constructed by society since my
disability was not as limiting and I had more options.
Both my Hydrocephalus and my Nystagmus did not limit me to traditional ideas
or roles of gender. My disability, unlike Gia’s, allowed me to participate in activities
outside of the female sphere as long as they are within my limitations. For example, since
my movement is not as limiting as Gia’s, the ways in which I can express aggression are
also not as restricted. Rather than using common elements of relational aggression such
as rumors, laughter and popularity in order to hurt the person I am acting aggressive
toward, I can also use methods usually reserved for men and boys, physical aggression.
In a social context, the idea of a young women acting physically aggressive is
unacceptable. However, because I have the ability to, it is also an option available to me
if necessary. In other words, I can defend myself if I need to. On the other hand, physical
aggression is not an option for Gia, not just because females are not supposed to be
gendered that way, but because of the limitations her disability constructs for her, which
is why she used relational aggression as an attempt to police my gender.
Both disability and traditional gender roles are constructed by society. They are
ideologies that place individuals in very concrete roles. These individuals are expected to
embrace the characteristics of these ideas thus they are expected to act in ways which
conform to these ideologies. For example, disabled individuals are viewed as people who
are “sick” and need to be cared for. They are portrayed as the ones who are unable to
adapt or live “normal” lives in society. According to Bolt, ”a disabling society is itself
disabled, for the thwarted potential of people with impairments constitutes the thwarted
potential of that society as a whole” (Bolt, 2005). In other words, if society still considers
people with disabilities to have less potential than those who do not have limitations, like
being unable to walk or see, then society as a whole does not have potential to grow.
Society also constructs gender and gender roles in a similar way. For example, females
are supposed to be nurturing and kind individuals who never outright express aggression.
Since traditional gender roles forbid women and girls from openly expressing aggression,
relationally aggressive behavior results. Relational aggression is the only option available
to women and girls who are held so tightly in the confines of the limitations of disability
and traditional gender roles.
89
�Gender roles for women as well as girls forbid the use of physical aggression so
females often resort to the use of relational aggression to hurt each other. For young
women and girls with disabilities, the types of aggression open to them depends on not
just gender or gender roles alone but on the limitations created by their disability. In the
case of Gia and I, she used relational aggression not only because it is a more socially
acceptable way for her to police my gender but also because it was the only form of
aggression that was available to her due to the limitations of her disability. Therefore,
disabled young women and girls use relational aggression not just because social norms
prevent them from acting outright aggressive because they are female, but also because
their limitations created by their physical disability do not allow them to resort to
physical aggression.
Works Cited
Americans with Disabilities Act. Summer 1990. Sections 12102.
Bolt, D. (2005). From Blindness to Visual Impairment: Terminological Typology and the
Social Model of Disability. Disability & Society, 20(5), 539-552.
Bowie, B. H. (2010). Understanding the Gender Differences in Pathways to Social
Deviancy: Relational Aggression and Emotion Regulation. Archives of Psychiatric
Nursing, 24(1), 27 – 37.
Brown, M. (2011). The Sad, The Mad and The Bad: Co-Existing Discourses of Girlhood.
Child & Youth Care Forum, 40(2), 107-120.
Gray, C. (2009). Narratives of Disability and the Movement from Deficiency to
Difference. Cultural Sociology, 3(2), 317-332.
Harpur, P. (2012). From Disability to Ability: Changing the Phrasing of the Debate.
Disability & Society, 27(3), p325-337.
90
�Mathieson, L.C., D. Murray-Close, N.R. Crick, K.E. Woods, M. Zimmer-Gembeck, T.C.
Geiger, and J.R. Morales (2011). Hostile Intent Attributions and Relational Aggression:
The Moderating Roles of Emotional Sensitivity, Gender and Victimization. Journal of
Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(7), 977-987.
Tanenbaum, Leora. (1999). “Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation”. New
York, NY. HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Werner, N, E, Nixon, C, L. (2005). Normative Beliefs and Relational Aggression: An
Investigation of the Cognitive Bases of Adolescent Aggressive Behavior. Journal of
Youth and Adolescence, 34(3), 229-243.
91
�Commodifying the Gothic in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Michael Garamoni (Theatre)1
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, commodities with no use value
and the repressive ideologies of hedonism, materialism, and consumerism play significant
roles in guiding Dorian Gray to become the narcissistic, deceptive, and even murderous
criminal he develops into by the end of the novel. The narrative functions of items such
as the titular picture and the yellow book indicate the Marxist concept that materialism
and consumerism lead directly down the path of degradation. This degradation in Dorian
Gray appears in many forms. From the aforementioned “poisonous book” Lord Henry
gives to Dorian, to Dorian’s commodification of Lord Henry, to the picture itself, the text
reveals important concepts about the dangers of capitalist ideology. These dangers
insinuate themselves into Dorian’s life in the form of elements of Gothic fiction including
Gothic space, secrets, blurred boundaries, criminal acts, physical transformation, and the
supernatural, all of which document Dorian’s decadent degeneration. The text, read in
this way, indicts capitalist ideology as well as the repressive ideology of philosophized
hedonism that Lord Henry espouses and confers upon Dorian throughout the novel. Once
this hedonistic ideology enters Dorian’s mind, and Basil, the artist, sees the change, it
triggers the domino effect that is The Picture of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry proclaims
early on as he speaks to Dorian, “A new Hedonism—that is what our century wants. You
might be its visible symbol. With your personality there is nothing you could not do”
(Wilde 32).
This hedonism of Lord Henry’s also becomes a Gothic device. As a
psychological space, or a mode of thought and perception that can be exited and entered
like a physical space, this ideology enraptures Dorian and leads him down his ruinous
path. The ideology of hedonism fulfills the element of the “Gothic space” in Dorian Gray
in that it constitutes an area of thought distant and mysterious from the reader. Lord
Henry quite intentionally colonizes Dorian’s consciousness with this set of ideas, and
presents them, nonchalantly, as incontrovertible truths about life. From the beginning of
the novel to the end, and especially once the insidious yellow book takes hold, Lord
Written under the direction of Dr. Susan Bernardo for EN 225: Ghosts, Vampires and
Civilization in English Gothic Fiction.
1
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�Henry’s repressive ideology draws Dorian further and further into the traps of
materialism. Lord Henry begins spinning his web by enrapturing Dorian into believing he
should serve his senses, “that is one of the great secrets of life—to cure the soul by means
of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul” (31). Here he lays the groundwork for
his influence on Dorian by establishing the foundational tenet of his hedonism.
Lord Henry then convinces Dorian that Beauty, especially personal physical
beauty, is more important than anything, “Beauty is a form of Genius—is higher, indeed,
than Genius, as it needs no explanation” (31). By affirming this, and expounding it in his
following speech, Lord Henry persuades Dorian to make use of his beauty, intentionally
blurring the distinction between what has use value and what does not. In the immortal
words of the preface, Wilde himself writes, “All art is quite useless” (17). If art is
beautiful, then beauty too is useless. In Marxist terms, beauty certainly has no use value.
Beauty has instead sign-exchange value because, though Dorian is already high up on the
socioeconomic ladder, his beauty makes him popular, well liked, and even adored by
others, despite his initial vacuousness. After Lord Henry makes his case, the
transformation in Dorian occurs almost instantly: “I know, now, that when one loses
one’s good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything” (34-35). Lord Henry sees
Dorian’s susceptibility, and proceeds for the rest of the novel to elaborate on his
hedonistic views, leading the young man to find materialism and consumerism.
Lord Henry makes a conscious decision to colonize Dorian’s consciousness with
his ideology, “He would seek to dominate him—had already, indeed, half done so. He
would make that wonderful spirit his own” (41). Nils Clausson believes that “Lord Henry
sees degeneration as the consequence of repressing our desires … For Lord Henry, the
price of not rebelling against repression is degeneration” (Clausson, 361). On the surface
this would seem to be true; however, Clausson misses the fundamental disproving factor:
Lord Henry does not believe in the ideas he feeds to Dorian. For Lord Henry, Dorian is
an experiment of philosophy, an intellectual exercise: “Now, the value of an idea has
nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it. Indeed, the
probabilities are that the more insincere the man is, the more purely intellectual will the
idea be, as in that case it will not be coloured by either his wants, his desires, or his
prejudices” (Wilde 23). Clausson implies that Lord Henry’s ideology intends to lead
Dorian to self-realization and freedom, but accidentally leads him to degeneration, the
very thing he supposedly seeks to avoid. However, Lord Henry so naturally and glibly
spouts his ideology of hedonism that he persuades Dorian that it is an entirely natural and
acceptable way of living. This imperialistic attitude of mental colonization, joined with
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�the artificiality of Lord Henry’s own adherence to his brand of hedonism and the entire
novel’s proof that such hedonism is extremely detrimental, indicates that Lord Henry’s
ideas are part of a repressive ideology.
Dorian’s belief in only indulging his own senses completely blinds him from the
material and historical circumstances around him. While with Sibyl this ignorance at first
allows Dorian favorably to transcend social class, it also blinds Dorian to his own
historical context, thereby preventing him from truly acknowledging that she is a member
of a lower class and not simply the actress or artifice he loves. Capitalistic imagery often
colors Lord Henry’s speeches or the narrator’s reflections on Dorian, stylistically
conflating ideas of capitalism with Lord Henry’s hedonistic ideals: “Don’t squander the
gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or
giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar” (32).
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, Dorian turns the tables on Lord Henry by
commodifying him. When Lord Henry draws him in, Dorian reacts equally by making
Lord Henry a commodity with both exchange and sign-exchange value. From the night
they first meet to the end of the novel, Lord Henry takes Dorian to dinner, to the theater,
and buys him material goods, thus his exchange value. In terms of Lord Henry’s
hedonism, Dorian also “advances” socially into the pleasure-seeking corners of society,
thus his sign-exchange value. Further, Lord Henry does assist Dorian in actually moving
up the social ladder by putting him back in the good graces of his aunt, assisting with his
dinner parties, and talking him up with his friends and acquaintances. Rather than acting
as a duet of checks and balances, Dorian and Lord Henry instead enact a positive
feedback loop, leading Dorian to the slippery slope he slides down into degradation.
Nothing symbolizes Lord Henry’s hedonistic, materialistic, and consumerist
influence on Dorian more than the yellow book: “Things that he had dimly dreamed of
were suddenly made real to him. Things of which he had never dreamed were gradually
revealed” (101). The book is the conduit through which Lord Henry renews his influence,
which had been eclipsed by Sibyl. Once this occurs, the ideology of hedonism moves to
engulf materialism, as the narrative speeds through many years in chapter eleven,
detailing exactly how the book “poisons” Dorian. Material objects with only exchange
value begin to dominate the man of eternal youth, beginning with “embroidered cloths,
and antique plate of gold and silver” (103) and the desire to be the “arbiter elegantiarum,
to be consulted on the wearing of a jewel, or the knotting of a tie, or the conduct of a
cane” (104) to his various and episodic obsessions with an array of expensive objects.
Perfumes and their psychological effects, music and innumerable musical instruments,
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�jewels (the ultimate exchange value material) and stories of jewels, tapestries and other
textiles, and “ecclesiastical vestments” all number among the objects of his materialism
and consumerism. The text very specifically notes for each that he does not simply
appreciate these commodities from afar; no, he purchases and owns all of them. They all
represent to Dorian the enrichment and refinement of the senses under the influence of
the yellow book and thus the influence of Lord Henry’s hedonism. They also show
incontestably that Dorian’s methods of refining himself depend on the things he buys and
owns.
As stated before, the hedonistic ideology of Lord Henry becomes a
psychological “gothic space,” a metaphysical orientation of thought foreign to the reader.
Beyond Lord Henry’s influence, however, other gothic elements play a vital role in
determining how the text reads also as an indictment of capitalistic ideas, including those
of consumerism and materialism. Most of the gothic elements in the novel have diegetic
(within the world of the text) and non-diegetic (outside of the world of the text) iterations.
The various rooms concealing Dorian’s picture all serve as gothic spaces as well, the
vaults of Dorian’s darkest secret. The concealing and unveiling of secrets, two gothic
staples, lie (pun intended) at the heart of Dorian Gray. From the beginning, Basil wishes
to hide Dorian from the rest of the world, preserving his innocence and purity but also
selfishly keeping him to himself. Lord Henry irrupts this first secret immediately, setting
the rest of the novel up for the anticipatory suspense of Dorian’s secrets. Dorian’s
increasingly obsessive concealment of the portrait, his every effort to hide the seedier
aspects of his double life, the secret with which he blackmails Alan Campbell, and
covering up his impulsive murder of Basil number among the most significant plot points
in the development of Dorian’s character. In a wider, non-diegetic sense, the entire novel
acts partly as an exposé of British society’s secrets in its rampant hypocrisy and duplicity.
This concept of concealment and deception in terms of Marxism ties into the need to
bring clarity to a historical situation through a non-repressive ideology, which British
society, or Dorian Gray specifically, does not employ.
Dorian Gray explores the gothic element of blurred boundaries as well, though
more in service of theme than plot. As an important part of Lord Henry’s manipulation of
Dorian, he blurs the boundaries between the body and the soul so that Dorian believes
that sensual exaltation of the body is equivalent to exaltation of the soul. The blurring of
body and soul also occurs in Dorian’s relationship with the picture. Through Dorian’s
supernatural, gothic wish-come-true, picture and soul switch places, and the wish comes
across as a capitalistic transaction. As Dorian says, “ ‘If it were I who was to be always
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�young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—for that—I would give everything!
Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!’
” (34). Dorian’s physical body becomes the Dorian of the original picture, and his soul
takes the picture’s place on the canvas, symbolically commodifying the soul itself. The
soul and body in this way also represent good and evil respectively, blurred together
when the satiation of the body’s desires (the temptation of evil) taints and corrupts the
soul in the painting (evil triumphing over good). The gothic element of physical
transformation ties in with this at the very end of the novel when Dorian stabs the
painting, mystifyingly returning Dorian’s soul to his body. This act transforms Dorian’s
perfect, unchanged, young body to the body reunited with the soul and reflects all of the
terrible things he has done. The text first subverts the gothic trope of transformation by
eliminating the natural transformations of time and age, and then uses it in an instant of
gothic horror, thereby blurring even the distinction between gothic elements.
Unarguably the most important Gothic device in Dorian Gray is the single
central instance of the supernatural, the picture itself, from which the whole story
unravels. As Elana Gomel writes,
Whether as the literary stereotype of Prince Charming or the
pictorial image of a lovely young man, the character that acts in the
novel under the name of Dorian Gray is a textual construct that takes
over the identity of a human being. Dorian’s initial aspiration is to
‘write’ himself into the portrait, and thus to achieve the immortality and
immutability of the objet d’art. His tragedy is that he succeeds. (Gomel
80)
As most critics are quick to point out, the supernatural aspect of the picture
comes not from the picture itself, but from a Faust-like bargain: Dorian’s soul in the place
of the eternal youth of the painting. More specifically, the bargain is that the real Dorian
gives his soul to switch places with the Dorian in the painting, thus accomplishing the
tragedy Gomel describes. Alongside the fictionalized “realization” of Aestheticism’s
tenet that “life imitates art,” the notion of a portrait as the only usage of the supernatural
Gothic element firmly establishes the negative influence of valuing commodities over
materials with use value. The influence is negative because of how the exchange destroys
Dorian’s life. The exchange itself, of course, is for the essence of the painting: everlasting
beauty and eternal youth, two things that, in fin-de-siècle England, had enormous signexchange value. The entire concept of exchanging one’s soul for something essential and
not having use of value places itself in the realm of Marxist critique.
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�The Picture of Dorian Gray employs the important narrative device of
convergence. All the ingredients for Dorian Gray’s downfall converge in the first two
chapters of the novel: Basil Hallward’s protectiveness and possessiveness, his masterful
portrait of Dorian, Lord Henry’s ennui and dandyish pretenses, his desire for an
intellectual guinea pig, Dorian’s impressionability, and the magic words, “I would give
my soul…” Together, those ingredients create a cerebral Gothic novel that very clearly
portrays a Marxist indictment of the repressive ideologies of capitalism, hedonism,
materialism, and consumerism. For, as Wilde writes in the preface, “All art is at once
surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who
read the symbol do so at their peril” (17).
Works Cited
Clausson, Nils. "'Culture And Corruption': Paterian Self-Development Versus Gothic
Degeneration In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray." Papers On Language And
Literature: 39.4 (2003): 339-364. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.
Gomel, Elana. "Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray, And The (Un)Death Of The
Author." Narrative 12.1 (2004): 74-92. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 10 Nov.
2012.
Wilde, Oscar. “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde:
Stories, Plays, Poems and Essays. Ed. Vyvyan B. Holland. New York: Harper and
Row, 1989. 17-167. Print.
97
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Wagner College Forum for Undergraduate Research
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Volume 11, Number 2
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1 The Transmission, Co-Occurrence, and Impact of Family Violence: Case Studies of the Dynamics of Intimate Partner, Child, and Animal Abuse / Courtney Heiserman -- 39 The Nude Female Body Redefined / Jessica Makwinski -- 56 “O serpent under femynynytee:” Patriarchal Power as Shown through Female Competition and the Madonna-Whore Binary in Chaucer’s The Man of Law’s Tale” / Rachel Zaydak -- 64 The Economic Role in Shaping the Modern Egyptian Family / Pakinam Mekki -- 70 Gustav Klimt: An Artist’s Evolution Through Freud’s Stages of Consciousness / Erik Arntzen -- 83 Female or Not? Relational Aggression, Mixed Gender Messages and Disability Limitations / Danielle Lucchese -- 92 Commodifying the Gothic in The Picture of Dorian Gray / Michael Garamoni
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