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24 - Masculinity, Femininity, and Sexuality

The Construct of Self-Control in Early Christianity

from Part VI - Contested Bodies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2023

By
Susan E. Hylen
Edited by
Bruce W. Longenecker  and
David E. Wilhite
Bruce W. Longenecker
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
David E. Wilhite
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
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Summary

A central premise of this chapter is that masculinity, femininity, and sexuality are socially constructed. Across history, cultures have arrived at many different understandings of what it means to be a man or a woman, and many ways to order and direct sexual desire. Instead of assuming that attributes of masculinity or femininity are enduring, then, the historian should articulate how the ancients thought about these topics, even when their approaches differed from our own.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity , pp. 561 - 585
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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