Roman Charity:Queer Lactations in Early Mode Visual Culture (Image)

by: Jutta Gisela Sperling (Author)

Publisher: Transcript Verlag

Publication Date: 15 Nov. 2016

Language: English

Print Length: 430 pages

ISBN-10: 3837632849

ISBN-13: 9783837632842

Book Description

Roman Charity"" investigates the iconography of the breastfeeding daughter from the perspective of queer sexuality and erotic mateity. The volume explores the popularity of a topic that appealed to early mode observers for its eroticizing shock value, its ironic take on the concept of Catholic ""charity"", and its implied critique of patriarchal power structures. It analyses why early mode viewers found an incestuous, adult breastfeeding scene ""good to think with"" and aims at expanding and queering our notions of early mode sexuality. Jutta Gisela Sperling discusses the different visual contexts in which ""Roman Charity"" flourished and reconstructs contemporary horizons of expectation by reference to literary sources, medical practice, and legal culture.
Roman Charity"" investigates the iconography of the breastfeeding daughter from the perspective of queer sexuality and erotic mateity. The volume explores the popularity of a topic that appealed to early mode observers for its eroticizing shock value, its ironic take on the concept of Catholic ""charity"", and its implied critique of patriarchal power structures. It analyses why early mode viewers found an incestuous, adult breastfeeding scene ""good to think with"" and aims at expanding and queering our notions of early mode sexuality. Jutta Gisela Sperling discusses the different visual contexts in which ""Roman Charity"" flourished and reconstructs contemporary horizons of expectation by reference to literary sources, medical practice, and legal culture.