Deconstructing Gender Stereotypes in Western Tradition

Traditional feminine description and roles within Western literary and artistic cultural artifacts have tended to portray women in very a specific way – one which creates, disseminates and consolidates the gender roles which became foundational to heteropatriarchy and, sometimes, male chauvinism. As an example, women in poetry are often portrayed as fragile, sweet, romanticized creatures who ignite masculine desire or bolster male artists’ creativity. In this sense, most Western lyrical traditions present women as either objects of desire or inspirational muses. These secondary roles, which transform women into subalterns, can also be seen in other artistic manifestations, such as painting and sculpture or, more recently, films, TV fictions, graphic novels and videogames. This volume offers a multidisciplinary approach to the topic of feminine representation in literature and the arts, presenting womanhood from new perspectives which highlight feminine characters who have traditionally been neglected, misrepresented or reduced to marginal roles.