This collection breaks new ground in the area of gender studies
both because it creates a name for gender fantasy--virtual
gender--that introduces a new understanding of the concept, and in
expanding the idea of virtuality to include people and events in
history. The essays in "Virtual Gender" help identify and name the
persistent cultural desire for an imaginative space in which to
"put on" alternative gender identities, while examining as well the
equally persistent and consequent critique of that desire.
The sweep of the volume's coverage is impressive, ranging across
historical periods and academic disciplines, as contributors
consider the place of the body in gender fantasy and the
consequences of gender fantasy for real people and real bodies. The
essays investigate figures and topics including Amelia Earhart,
soap-opera chat groups, Elizabeth I, mesmerism, lesbianism in the
early modern period, cybergames, women in the federalist period,
the transgendered body, and performance art. Also examined are the
status of embodiment, the origins of gender, gender politics, the
pains of subjectivity, the uses of utopian fantasy, technological
advances and information technology, the experience of gendered
communities, and the role of gender in global politics.
Contributors include Harriette Andreadis, Seyla Benhabib, Charlotte
Canning, Bernice Hausman, Janel Mueller, Mary Ann O'Farrell, Kay
Schaffer, Sidonie Smith, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Helen F.
Thompson, Lynne Vallone, and Robyn Warhol. The book will appeal to
an interdisciplinary audience of scholars, critics, and students
with interests in gender, identity, and cyberculture.
Mary Ann O'Farrell is Associate Professor of English, Texas A &
M University. Lynne Vallone is Associate Professor of English,
Texas A & M University.
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