Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Marburg.

Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Hamburg.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Kiel.

Zugl.: Knoxville, Tenn., University of Tennessee, Diss., 2006 / Hergestellt on demand

Basierend auf einer Analyse medizinischer Schriften aus Deutschland, Frankreich und England befasst sich diese Dissertation mit der Interpretation und Wahrnehmung der Wechseljahre und der Frau in den Wechseljahren zwischen 1800 und 1950. Obwohl sich das medizinische Verständnis des Wechseljahrsprozesses in dieser Zeit, in der die Sexualhormone entdeckt wurden, änderte, herrschte in diesen Schriften eine ständige, allgegenwärtige Pathologisierung der Menopause vor. Die (überwiegend männlichen) Autoren verwendeten eine sehr negative und oft dramatische Sprache, um die Wechseljahre und ihre Gefahren zu charakterisieren. Sie brachten die Wechseljahre insbesondere mit Nervenkrankheiten und psychischen Problemen in Verbindung. Darüber hinaus beschrieben sie in einer sehr abwertenden Sprache die Veränderungen des äußeren Erscheinungsbildes und der weiblichen Libido, die sie bei Frauen in den Wechseljahren und nach der Menopause beobachten zu können glaubten: pralles "Fleisch" und hervorstehende Bäuche, übermäßiges sexuelles Verlangen und "geile" Träume, die einige von ihnen quälten und die Umwandlung ihres Charakters in einen männlicheren. Rückblickend spiegelten diese Berichte in erheblichem Maße die zeitgenössische Wahrnehmung der gebrechlichen und reizbaren Natur der Frau und ihrer Rolle in der Gesellschaft wider, und laut den Ärzten teilten Frauen zu dieser Zeit diese Vorstellungen. Ich behaupte zudem, dass diese zutiefst negative Sichtweise der Menopause in der Geschichte der westlichen Kultur auch heute noch die Wahrnehmung und Erfahrung der Menopause beeinflussen kann. / Based on an analysis of medical writings from Germany, France and England, this dissertation looks at the interpretation and perception of menopause and the menopausal woman between 1800 and 1950. Although the medical understanding of the menopausal process changed considerably in this period, in which the sex hormones were discovered, i found a constant, pervasive pathologization of menopause in these writings. The (predominantly male) authors used a very negative and often dramatic language to characterize menopause and its dangers. They associated menopause, in particular, with nervous diseases and mental health issues. Moreover, they described in a highly judgmental and moralizing language the changes in outward appearance and in female libido they thought they could observe in menopausal and postmenopausal women: bulging flesh and protruding abdomens, excessive sexual desire and horny dreams that tormented some of them and a transformation of their character into a more masculine one. In retrospect, these accounts reflected, to a considerable degree the contemporary perception of the frail and irritable nature of women and their role in society and, according to the physicians, women at the time shared these ideas. I suggest that this profoundly negative view of menopause in the history of Western culture may still influence the perception and experience of menopause today.

The role of women in society was an important socio?cultural discourse explored in the literature of the late 19th century. The Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler was a key contributor to this discourse. He was well known for the psychological portrayal of his characters and the sexualization of his literary types, especially of his female characters, and in his writings he dared to break societal taboos. Schnitzler created a wide array of social types, such as the "integrated woman," the "ageing spinster," the "woman of the world," the "prostitute" and the widely discussed type the "s????e M??del" ("sweet girl"). In this thesis, however, I will focus on one of the less examined female types in Schnitzler's work: the "widow. " I will examine two narratives by Schnitzler that concentrate on the widow "Frau Berta Garlan" (1901) and "Frau Beate und ihr Sohn" (1913), to investigate this type and to examine the modes of gendered identity?formation as portrayed in the literary texts. <br /><br /> To examine the gender?types that the protagonists reflect in the search for their identity, I will undertake an intratextual analysis of the text, based on the central premises of Michel Foucault's discourse analysis and Judith Butler's analysis of gender as construct. Within this constructivist paradigm of gender and identity, I will undertake a textual analysis of character representation to demonstrate how identity is formed within the constraints of hegemonic discourses, and how resistance against these preformed modes of identity is predicated by fixed notions of social norms. <br /><br /> The texts focus on the lives of the two female protagonists. Both are widowed and fail to break out of the constraints forced upon them by society. With the awakening of their sexual desire, they are caught in an identity crisis, their desires standing at odds with the asexual identity they must assume as widows. In their attempt to combine their sexual desires with their desire to remain respectable in the eyes of society, the widows eventually fail since normative discourses of gender identity do not allow for alternative identities. Although the texts demonstrate the impossibility of living identities that contravene the central tenets of social norm, that the individual is not free to fashion its own identity, Schnitzler's texts also debunk the myth of a natural gender identity and subvert its fatalistic message by demonstrating clearly the constructed character of gender almost a century before the advent of poststructuralist gender?theory.

Zugl.: Bern, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

The role of women in society was an important socio?cultural discourse explored in the literature of the late 19th century. The Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler was a key contributor to this discourse. He was well known for the psychological portrayal of his characters and the sexualization of his literary types, especially of his female characters, and in his writings he dared to break societal taboos. Schnitzler created a wide array of social types, such as the "integrated woman," the "ageing spinster," the "woman of the world," the "prostitute" and the widely discussed type the "süße Mädel" ("sweet girl"). In this thesis, however, I will focus on one of the less examined female types in Schnitzler's work: the "widow. " I will examine two narratives by Schnitzler that concentrate on the widow "Frau Berta Garlan" (1901) and "Frau Beate und ihr Sohn" (1913), to investigate this type and to examine the modes of gendered identity?formation as portrayed in the literary texts. <br /><br /> To examine the gender?types that the protagonists reflect in the search for their identity, I will undertake an intratextual analysis of the text, based on the central premises of Michel Foucault's discourse analysis and Judith Butler's analysis of gender as construct. Within this constructivist paradigm of gender and identity, I will undertake a textual analysis of character representation to demonstrate how identity is formed within the constraints of hegemonic discourses, and how resistance against these preformed modes of identity is predicated by fixed notions of social norms. <br /><br /> The texts focus on the lives of the two female protagonists. Both are widowed and fail to break out of the constraints forced upon them by society. With the awakening of their sexual desire, they are caught in an identity crisis, their desires standing at odds with the asexual identity they must assume as widows. In their attempt to combine their sexual desires with their desire to remain respectable in the eyes of society, the widows eventually fail since normative discourses of gender identity do not allow for alternative identities. Although the texts demonstrate the impossibility of living identities that contravene the central tenets of social norm, that the individual is not free to fashion its own identity, Schnitzler's texts also debunk the myth of a natural gender identity and subvert its fatalistic message by demonstrating clearly the constructed character of gender almost a century before the advent of poststructuralist gender?theory.

Univ., Diss.--Maastricht, 2007.