Unbecoming Female Monsters: Witches, Vampires, and Virgins

by Cristina Santos

Overview

Unbecoming Female Monsters: Witches, Vampires, and Virgins is a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary work that traces the construct of female monsters as an embodiment of socio-cultural fears of female sexuality and reproductive powers. This book examines the female sexual maturation cycle and the various archetypes of female monsters associated with each stage of sexual development as seen in literature, art, film, television, and popular culture. Recommended for scholars of Latin American studies, literature, cultural studies, women and gender studies, popular culture, and film studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498529648
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	12/07/2016
Series:	Latin American Gender and Sexualities
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	204
File size:	43 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Cristina Santos is associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Brock University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Permissions
Introduction
Chapter One: Turning Back the Clock: “Modern” Virginities
Chapter Two: Breaking In vs. Breaking Out: Negotiating the Transition from Girlhood to Womanhood
Chapter Three: Maligned Mother(hood)s
Chapter Four: Fairy Tale Witches and Much More
Chapter Five: Life Isn’t a Fairy Tale and I’m No Princess: The Case of Countess Elizabeth Bathory
Epilogue
Works Cited
Filmography
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Unbecoming Female Monsters is a thoughtful, well-researched, and poignant examination of female monstrosity. .. It [is] a valuable resource for anyone interested in the intersection of fairy tales and feminism.

Folklore

Cristina Santos's Unbecoming Female Monsters offers an incisive examination of female embodiment and the “monstrous woman.” Organized in chapters that address various stages of the female life cycle, Santos reads the commodification of female sexuality and reproduction in relation to three key tropes: witch, vampire, and virgin. Drawing on fairy tales, mythology, literature, film, and television, Santos considers how women’s designation as monster has deleterious effects on females’ ability to form productive relationships with self and other. Arguing that a “positive reappropriation” of female-ness can dismantle such constructions, Santos makes a compelling case for “unbecoming the monster.

Natalie Wilson

Cristina Santos takes an uncompromising and, at times, deeply poignant view of the sacrifices women are forced to make on a daily basis in order to conform to the constricting and largely male-dominated narratives which shape the society in which they live. With tremendous care and fascinating insight she dissects the cultural language and imagery of the female monster to reveal and recover the means by which this process can be broken down, the chains shaken off and women can un-become the monsters they have been made.

Rob Fisher