Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Record Number: 5541
Author(s)/Creator(s): Smartt , Daniel.
Contributor(s):
Title: Cruising Twelfth-Century Pilgrims [analysis of the sexual elements found in the Moissac "Luxuria" and a miracle story involving male pilgrims].
Source: Edited by Whitney DavisJournal of Homosexuality 27, 40180 ( 1994): Pages 35 - 55. Published simultaneously in Gay and Lesbian Studies in Art History. Edited by Whitney Davis. Haworth Press, 1994. 35-55
Description:
Article Type: Journal Article
Subject (See Also): Art History- Sculpture Gender Homosexuality Liber Sancti Iacobi, Liturgical Book Miracles Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne, France- Abbey Church of Saint Pierre- Portal- Luxuria Pilgrimage Sexuality Sins in Art Women in Art
Award Note:
Geographic Area: France
Century: 12
Primary Evidence: Sculpture; Moissac, Church of Saint Pierre, left wall of portal, Luxuria, the sin of unchastity. The scene depicts a naked woman with snakes biting her breasts and a toad attacking her genitals. A devil stands next to her.
Illustrations: Four figures. A close-up photograph and drawing of Luxuria. The left-hand wall of the portal in which Luxuria is located. The portal tympanum with Christ in majesty.
Table:
Abstract: When taken together, the Moissac "Luxuria," a miracle story from the "Book of St. James," and the twelfth-century pilgrims who experienced them seem to show that sexual energy and an instability of gender characterized certain encounters among male pilgrims. I believe that this influenced what people saw when they looked at the "Luxuria," and I try to situate this thesis in the context of Lesbian and Gay Studies. At the outset I adopt a "performative" view of homosexual relationships, and I close by relating the word "cruising" to the structural homology between myself and the people I study. [Reproduced by permission of the Haworth Press.]
Related Resources:
Author's Affiliation: Swarthmore College
Conference Info: - , -
Year of Publication: 1994.
Language: English
ISSN/ISBN: 00918369