Guy de Maupassant's short stories "Une Aventure Parisienne" and "Le Signe" tell the tales of two female protagonists caught by curiosity. In "Une Aventure Parisienne," a notary's wife (the petite provinciale) leaves her home and ventures to Paris in search of an affair with a celebrity. After finding one and sleeping with him, the petite provinciale becomes disillusioned with her fantasy: she returns home deflated from the realization that her celebrity snores and drools just as her husband does. The high-society protagonist in "Le Signe," Madame de Grangerie, is also disenchanted with her interest in imitating the gesture of a prostitute she notices across the street. When faced with a male client she frantically gives in to what she has offered. Needing to reaffirm her identity as an "honnête femme," she solicits advice from her friend on what to do if the client returns. While both protagonists do not face legal punishment for their affairs, they do confront personal consequences. The petite provinciale's dreams about celebrities burst and Madame de Grangerie's reputation appears at risk. Maupassant not only comments on feminine curiosity and adultery, but also on the internal effects such actions could potentially have on women of his time. In this thesis I argue that even though both protagonists act on their curiosities and flirt with private/public boundaries, the petite provinciale and Madame de Grangerie are ultimately presented through masculinized lenses. I also show how discursive nineteenth-century traditions of a limited view of female sexuality are reconstructed in Maupassant's tales. / Master of Arts

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This thesis examines trans women's contemporary writing in relation to a theory of the excessive object, sublimity, transmisogyny and minor literature. In doing so, this text is influenced by Susan Stryker's work on monstrosity, abjection and transgender rage in the article “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage” (1994). The excessive object refers to a concept coined in this thesis to describe sublimity from another perspective than that of the tradition following from Immanuel Kant's A Critique of Judgment, building on feminist scholarship on the aesthetic of the sublime. Of particular relevance are critiques of the patriarchal dynamics of sublimity and the idea of the feminine sublime as it is explored with reference to literature by Barbara Freeman in The Feminine Sublime: Gender and Excess in Women's Fiction (1995). Following from the feminist critique of sublimity, trans women's writing is explored as minor literature through a re-reading of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's work on Franz Kafka in Kafka. Toward a Minor Literature (1986), with attention to the importance that conditions of impossibility, marginality and unintelligibility holds for the political possibilities of minor literature. These readings form the basis for an analysis of four literary texts by two contemporary authors, Elena Rose, also known as little light, and Sybil Lamb, in addition to a deeper re-engagement with Stryker's work. In so doing, this thesis also touches on topics of power, erasure, trauma, self-sacrifice, appropriation and unrepresentability.

The methods of sex determination through skeletons or through objects in graves has been used on and off since the nineteenth century. Most of the osteological methods are however developed on intact bones, and the archaeological method assume that jewelry is female associated and weapons are male associated. A tendency to choose the archaeological sex determination above the osteological sex determination can be spotted as well. The study examines how the osteological sex determination methods could be used on fragmented skeletal remains, and question the archaeological sex determination method with a gender perspective. This will be achieved by analyzing thirteen graves from a burial ground in Lekarehed, Lärbro parish (socken), Gotland. The skeletal remains were excavated in 1878 and 1951 and is dated to late Bronze age–early Iron age and the Viking age. The aim with this study is to get a deeper understanding of how the methods can be used, and to shed light on the stereotypical view on femininity and masculinity that exists. The aim is also to emphasize that the most important and most interesting information comes from the discussion of the problems that exist in these methods, and that the most important thing is not to decide what is feminine or masculine, or to choose one method in front of the other. The analysis resulted in one certain, four uncertain and eight graves without sex determination regarding the osteological method, and two certain, one uncertain and ten graves without sex determination regarding the archaeological method. In the discussion, the problems with putting the woman and the man as pairs of opposition is brought up, because it excludes the graves that cannot be put in one of these two categories. The objects in the graves can represent something other than sex as well, for instance age or status. The cooperation between the osteologist and the archaeologist is important for the knowledge to evolve and to carry on. By looking at the material in a new way, new insights will perhaps come forth. / Denna uppsats handlar om hur det går att använda osteologiska och arkeologiska könsbedömningsmetoder på ett fragmenterat skelettmaterial. Metoderna som används för den osteologiska könsbedömningen är ofta, om inte alltid, utvecklade på intakta ben, och när det gäller fragmenterade ben blir könsbedömningen svårare att utföra. Den arkeologiska könsbedömningen är en könsbedömning gjord via föremålen i gravar och utgår kortfattat ifrån att vapen är manliga och smycken är kvinnliga. Den granskas här genom ett genusperspektiv som ifrågasätter synen på kvinnligt och manligt och hur de tankarna överförs till forntiden. Det finns också problematik i hur osteologin och arkeologin stämmer överens med varandra. För att undersöka problematiken har ett skelettmaterial på 13 gravar från ett gravfält i Lekarehed, Lärbro socken, Gotland analyserats. Resultatet för den osteologiska könsbedömningen blev en säker, fyra osäkra kön och åtta stycken utan könsbedömning. Resultatet för den arkeologiska könsbedömningen blev två säkra, en osäker och tio utan en könsbedömning. Slutsatserna i uppsatsen är att de osteologiska och arkeologiska könsbedömningsmetoderna blev problematiska. Den osteologiska på grund av de fragmenterade benen och svårigheter inom den morfologiska metoden. Den arkeologiska på grund av att det inte fanns könsindikerande föremål i många gravar och även på grund av vad vi sätter in i kvinnligt och manligt associerade föremål. Där både en osteologisk och en arkeologisk könsbedömning fanns, stämde de överens med varandra. Det betyder dock inte att de inte ska problematiseras, eftersom vi inte vet om forntidens människor tyckte att smycken var kvinnliga och vapen var manliga. Vi vet inte heller om föremålen representerar kön, eller vad föremålen hade för användningsområde. Det blir också svårt att dra slutsatser om hur individerna i Lekarehed såg på kvinnligt och manligt, eftersom resultaten av könsbedömningarna i många fall var bristfälliga, och för att gravfältet representerar olika tidsperioder. Ny kunskap kan uppkomma om vi slutar att sätta kvinnan och mannen som motsatspar, och är öppna för en annan syn på genus som inte representerar dagens (västerländska) samhälle, eftersom de gravarna som hamnar utanför de två kategorierna blir osynliga. Det är viktigt att osteologen och arkeologen samarbetar, och inte väljer den ena metoden framför den andra, eftersom den mest intressanta informationen och kunskapen kommer utifrån diskussionen av problematiken, och vilka nya aspekter som kan tillföras om vi inte förutsätter att forntidens människor såg på kvinnligt och manligt på det sättet som det finns en tendens till idag.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This paper examines the influence of the dominant masculine-hegemonic ideology and gender- compliance on agenda setting and framing texts in the context of a healthy diet, respectively vegetarianism, which is considered a healthy alternative if this diet is balanced. With reference to the already existing academic work on the topic of health discourse in the context of patriarchal ideology, this thesis aims to uncover through discourse analysis of texts in Czech lifestyle magazines for men and for women latent and subtle ideological structures supporting the social status quo and at the same time reveal the influence of the social construction of masculinity and femininity to the discourse of vegetarianism.

L'image du corps dessine les contours de la féminité, mais il ne semble possible d'entrevoir une expression proprement féminine qu'à travers les failles de celle-ci. Semblable à une expression incontrôlée de l'inconscient, le féminin se déploie comme le lapsus ou l'acte manqué. Pour ce faire, il semble nécessaire de passer par le rapport différent que semble entretenir une femme à la pulsion. C'est à travers une possible liaison entre pulsion et image du corps que le féminin semble s'exprimer. Aussi, l'inconscient maternel et de ce fait le regard de la mère, nécessitent une particulière attention, dans la mesure où la pulsion scopique de la mère investira différemment le corps de l'enfant fille. A travers un regard non limité par le signifiant, il sera question pour la fille d'un investissement de tout le corps et de ce fait, d'un rapport diffus et difficilement contenable d'avec la pulsion. La multiplicité des inscriptions phalliques sur le corps de la fille rend autre son rapport à l'image – le surinvestissement marque, entre autre, une fragilité. Le regard que suscite l'expression par images dénature l'appel au féminin qui ne peut s'articuler que dans l'absence du dire. Le nouvel impératif social paraît difficilement s'articuler à l'enracinement du discours familial ; il est pourtant possible d'entrevoir une inhibition de la pensée par le biais d'un surplus d'images sans référant. / It's through the body image that the femininity contours draws itself but, it seems possible to catch a glimpse of feminine expression only through the flaw or the rift of it. Similar to the uncontrolled expression of the unconscious, feminine expression displays itself like the slip of the tongue or the parapraxis. Consequently, it seems necessary to point the different relation a woman maintains to her drives. It's through a potential link between drive and body image that the feminine expression seems to take place. To do so, maternal unconscious and the mother's look requires particular attention; insofar as, the mother's optic drive will be differently investing a girl child body. Through a look non-limited by the signifier, it will be question for the girl to invest her whole body and this will lead her to a diffuse and hardly containable relation to her own drive. The multiplicity of phallic inscriptions on the girl's body renders differently her relation to images – the overinvestment signs, beside all, fragility. The look that the expression by images sparks off distorts the feminine call, which can only rise in the absence of words and sayings. The new social requirement seems hardly articulate itself with the roots of familial discourse; it is, though, possible to glimpse the inhibition of thoughts by the way images are overinvested.

The purpose of this research was to investigate contemporary conceptions of beauty and bodily modificatory behaviour of young, Black, South African women. In a society where a lot of emphasis has been placed on a woman’s physical appearance, it was important to determine how these young women feel about their bodily appearance and if whether this is influenced by their social milieu. Constructions of beauty are largely constructed around White womanhood, thus Black women might feel marginalised by the White majority’s Western beauty standards. Data for this research report was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with six female, Black South African, first year psychology students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The participants received a 1% incentive for their participation which contributed to their end of semester mark. The findings of the study show that conformity to Western standards of beauty has a negative bearing on the participants perceptions of how they feel about their bodies. The media has also become influential in changing perceptions of beauty within Black South African contemporary culture. Salient features of beauty, such as hair and skin colour seem to be embedded in the historical processes of oppression.

Dans la deuxième partie du XIXe siècle, les femmes qui osent écrire et publier sont encore très peu nombreuses. Face à une société qui les rejette ou qui les traite de bas bleus, elles sont à la recherche de solutions et celles qu’elles trouvent sont soit se cacher sous des apparences d‘hommes et publier sous pseudonyme, soit par contre, approfondir le féminin et écrire une littérature du moi : journal, autobiographie, roman épistolaire.Margareta Miller-Verghy (1865-1953), une écrivaine ignorée par les histoires littéraires, qui est pourtant parmi les premières écrivaines francophones roumaines, commence sa carrière littéraire en publiant sous pseudonyme. Ses romans, dont le dernier Blandina, qui paraît à titre posthume et en traduction roumaine, témoignent de cette littérature à forte dimension autobiographique. Son destin traverse deux siècles et peut être considéré comme représentatif du chemin que la femme-écrivain parcourt à partir de l’époque du mépris et de la méfiance du XIXe siècle, jusqu’à la pleine acceptation, au XXe siècle.Margareta Miller-Verghy naît à Jassy, Roumanie, mais passe son enfance et plus tard sa jeunesse à Genève, dans un milieu non seulement francophone, mais aussi multilingue. Ainsi s’explique son penchant pour les langues et son talent de traductrice qu‘elle exerce dans un premier temps en traduisant en français l’œuvre de Mihail Eminescu, le plus grand poète roumain. Après une licence en Sciences Sociales, obtenue toujours à Genève, elle devient directrice de l’Asile Elena Doamna, à Bucarest, et en cette qualité elle publie des ouvrages à contenu didactique, dont une méthode d’apprentissage du français, qui est parmi les premières de ce genre. Sa carrière d’écrivaine commence en 1883 avec une nouvelle parue sous le pseudonyme Marmil et continue par trois romans, le premier, Theano, paru en Roumanie et en France en 1919 et respectivement en 1921, le deuxième Cealaltă lumină (L’Autre Lumière), en 1944, un témoignage de l’accident à la suite duquel elle a perdu sa vue et le dernier Blandina (1980), qui est en fait le premier de ce cycle autobiographique. En dehors de cette activité dans le champ de la littérature, elle milite pour la littérature féminine, en publiant une anthologie intitulée Evoluţia scrisului feminin în România(Évolution de l’écrit féminin en Roumanie), s’intéressée aux arts, dirige pour une vingtaine d’année une institution qui organisait des projets culturels, La Maison d’Art, et exerce une importante activité charitable, surtout pendant la première guerre mondiale.La biographie de cette femme-écrivain, accompagnée par l’édition critique de son roman le plus connu constituent l’objet de la thèse que nous avons créée, mais pour que son œuvre et son activité si diverse et si complexe soient connues et appréciées par les générations futures, la recherche très laborieuse que nous avons réalisée dans les archives doit être élargie par un travail d’édition et de réédition. Continuer cette étude par une monographie, par une nouvelle édition du roman Blandine, par une édition d’œuvres nous semble un devoir pour les années à venir. / In the second half of the nineteenth century, women who dare to write and publish are still very few. Faced with a society that rejects them or treats them as blue bottoms, they are looking for solutions and those they find are either to hide under the appearance of men and publish under pseudonym, to be against, deepen the feminine and write a literature of the self: journal, autobiography, novel letter writer. Margareta Miller-Verghy (1865-1953), a writer ignored by literary histories, who is among the first French-speaking Romanian writers, begins her literary career publishing under pseudonym. Her novels, including the last one, "Blandina", appear posthumous and in Romanian translation testify to this literature with a strong autobiographical dimension. Her destiny goes back two centuries and can be considered representative for the path that the female writers travel from the time of contempt and mistrust of the nineteenth century to the full acceptance in the twentieth century.Margareta Miller-Verghy was born in Jassy, Romania, but spent her childhood and later her youth in Geneva, not only in a French environment, but also in a multilingual one. This explains her penchant for foreign languages and her talent as a translator, which she makes use of when translating into French the work of Mihail Eminescu, the greatest Romanian poet. After a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, while still in Geneva, she became director of the Elena Doamna Asylum in Bucharest and in this quality she published books with didactic content, including a method of learning French, which is among the premieres of this kind. Her writing career began in 1883 with a short story published under the pseudonym Marmil and continued with three novels, the first, Theano, published in Romania and France in 1919 and respectively in 1921, the second "Cealaltă lumină" ("The Other Light"), in 1944, a testimony of the accident in which she lost her eyesight, and the last "Blandina" (1980), which is actually the first of this autobiographical cycle. Apart from this activity in the field of literature, she advocates for women's literature, publishing an anthology entitled "Evoluția scrisului feminin în România" ("Evolution of the female writing in Romania"). She is interested in arts, directs for twenty years an institution that organizes cultural projects, The House of Art, and has a significant charitable activity, especially during the First World War.In order for her work, which is so diverse and so complex, to be known and appreciated by future generations, the very laborious research we have carried out in the archives must be expanded by editing and re-editing. To continue this study with a monography, with a new edition of the novel "Blandine", with an edition of gathered works seems to us a duty for the years to come.