Controlling the Feminine Body in Public

Controlling the Feminine Body in Public: An Examination of Didactic Literature from the Reign of Charles VI of France, and its Focus on Movement. (2017). Controlling the Feminine Body in Public: An Examination of Didactic Literature from the Reign of Charles VI of France, and its Focus on Movement.

Description

Within this project, I have identified a new pattern of instruction, surrounding women’s bodies and their movement within the public space, present within didactic literature produced during the reign of Charles VI of France (1368-1422). This pattern, present in the texts Le livre du Chevalier de la Tour Landry pour l’instruction de ses filles, Le Menagier de Paris, Le livre des trois vertus and Mirroir des dames, sought to shame control women’s physical presentation in public through use of imagery, stories and fear of pride. Using modern gendered body theory presented by Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler to examine the rise of this pattern, this project then concludes it represents an attempt of the social authority to present a passive feminine body in the public space in order to display male power during a time of social instability.
Author Keywords: body history, didactic literature, medieval education, medieval France, women, women's bodies

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