Maternal monks and effeminate sodomites, vulnerable saints and apocalyptic whores - FLP welcomes the wonderful Baylee Woodley for a look towards the queer in Late Medieval England…
CLASS DESCRIPTION
How was femininity operating in the late Middle Ages? This class dives into the complexities of femininity outside of the binary as it was operating in late medieval England and France. It explores questions of femme representation in medieval romances that are brimming with queer relationships and bodies before turning to queer femininities both sacred and sinful. Throughout this class, students will encounter maternal monks and effeminate sodomites, vulnerable saints and apocalyptic whores, as well as gender-bending tormentors and bodies feminized through frailty.
Through this wide-ranging exploration, this class hopes to make clear the centrality of questions of femininity to intersectional analyses (historical and contemporary). It offers examples of the ways that femininity in the medieval and modern operates systemically at the intersections of racism, colonialism, sexism, transphobia, ageism, classism, and ableism. It also opens up the possibility that the past might offer new possibilities for speculating queer alternatives. This class puts the medieval in femme hands and invites modern femmes to 'get medieval.
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
Baylee Woodley is a postgraduate researcher at the University College London. Their doctoral work explores the legacy of late medieval queer femininities and takes an interdisciplinary approach that detaches femininity from femaleness to centre its intersectionality, cross-temporal resonances, and methodological value. Alongside medieval femmes, Baylee is committed to accessible education, sharing (and collaboratively making) queer hirstories, and biodegradable glitter. They maintain the digital archive Queer Art History and foster their own femme fantasy through a performance-based art practice.
INSTAGRAM: @queerarthistory and @baylee_elizabeth_w_
WEBSITE: https://www.queerarthistory.com/ and https://www.bayleewoodley.org/
UPCOMING SESSIONS WITH THE FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM
Monday 16th September
Kitty Underhill (she/her)
Where do Flaws Come From?: Bellies, Bodies and the Social Construction of Imperfection
Monday 23rd September
N.A. Kimber (she/her) and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford (she/her)
Death and the Maiden: Femininity in the Gothic
Monday 30th September
Carolina Hades (she/her)
Pole Dancing Against the Algorithm
Monday 7th October
Janine Francois (she/they)
Black {Gendered} Space Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space
Monday 14th October
Parumveer Walia (he/him)
Staged Bodies: Performativity in Feminist Photography
Monday 21st October
Isobel Atacus (she/they)
Eva Hesse: Imagining the Unruly
Monday 28th October
Gudrun Filipska (she/her)
Feminism and Zombie Culture
Monday 4th November
Anna Titov (she/her)
Cyborgs, Transcorporeality and Volatile Bodies: Ecofeminist Theories of Embodiment
Monday 11th November
Jennifer Higgie (she/her)
Stars in Their Eyes: 19th-Century Spiritualism and Female Proto-Surrealism
Monday 18th November
Melissa Baksh (she/her)
Whitewashed? Whiteness and Femininity in Art History
Monday 25th November
Dr. Noam Yadin Evron (she/her)
Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Artist, Composer, Pioneer
Monday 2nd December
COMING SOON
Monday 9th December
Baylee Woodley (they/them)
Medieval Femmes: Queer Femininities in Medieval England
Monday 16th December
Summer Lee (she/her)
The Incendiary History of Red Lingerie
RECORDING
A recording of the lecture will be sent out by The Feminist Lecture Program after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. This email will also contain any resources/reading list the lecturer shares.
Please add hello@feministlectureprogram.com to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.
Please note that the recording will expire 7 days after sending.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of £20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
MORE FLP…
Can’t get enough? The Feminist Lecture Program has our very own digital archive, where you can find some of the best past lectures from our back catalogue to rent and watch ON DEMAND. Check out our ever growing collection here: https://thefeministlectureprogram.vhx.tv/
Follow us on Instagram @thefeministlectureprogram
And check out our sustainable merch from FLP Studio at https://feministlectureprogram.com/shop & @flp__studio
And that's it!
We're really looking forward to you joining us x