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Unpublished Paper
(Re)Claiming the Discourse of Desire: An Analysis of Women’s Erotic Texts
Paper for a feminist theory/methods course (Purdue University, with Prof. Patrocinio Schweickart) (1998)
  • Amanda J. Swygart-Hobaugh, M.L.S., Ph.D., Georgia State University
Abstract
Upon critiquing MacKinnon and Dworkin’s (Dworkin 1981; MacKinnon 1986, 1987; MacKinnon and Dworkin 1997) stance against “pornography,” discussing the theoretical and linguistic obstacles besetting women’s sexual expression, and reviewing research literature examining romance novels, I then explored erotic short-stories written by women—or women’s “erotica”—as surfaces for the (re)clamation of women’s desire. Drawing from my analyses of fourteen erotic tales from two separate collections, I concluded that the selected corpus of women’s erotica demonstrates the multiplicity of women’s sexual voices and combats the hegemony of a male-centered discourse of desire.
Publication Date
Fall 1998
Citation Information
Swygart-Hobaugh, A.J. (1998). (Re)claiming the discourse of desire: An analysis of women's erotic texts. Unpublished manuscript.