User:RRSG2000/Choose an Article
Article Selection
[edit]Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.
Option 1
[edit]- Three Item Law
- Article Evaluation
- It actually doesn't exist on Wikipedia yet (that I could find). The Three-Item Law involves cross-dressing laws titled "masquerade laws" in the 1940-60s, prior to the Stonewall Riots. I'm not sure if these laws were in place solely in New York (need to do more research). Among the LGBTQ+ community, they called them the Three-Item Law or Three-Article Rule: people had to be wearing at least three articles of clothing from their assigned gender at birth to prevent being arrested. The slang for this law evolved into being a code between members of the LGBTQ+ community about the police. Need to find more sources but would love to publish the first Wikipedia article about this topic!
- Sources
- https://www.dapperq.com/2020/08/the-three-article-rule-dapperqs-role-in-continuing-the-stonewall-movement/#:~:text=Among%20LGBTQ%2B%20people%2C%20these%20laws,else%20they'd%20be%20arrested.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/us/revisiting-stonewall-memories-history.html
Option 2
[edit]- Sex and the law
- Sex Crimes in the Victorian/Regency eras
- Article Evaluation
- In class, we discussed how sexual assault was considered "aggressive seduction", how women "wanted to be raped" and if they couldn't fight back they were weak, and the lack of women's rights/agency when it came to sexuality. This also connects with women's reproductive rights, and women getting abortions to preserve their reputations, and the sexual shaming that comes from these sex crimes. I'd also like to connect this to the legal system at this time. This article I read discusses institutional gender and sex barriers in providing justice for these women, and is a peer-reviewed academic source.
- Sources
Renzi, Kristen. "Archival Seduction: The Discursive Challenges of Reading Sex Crimes in the London Foundling Hospital Mothers' Petitions, 1807–1827." Feminist Formations, vol. 30 no. 2, 2018, p. 118-146. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ff.2018.0021.
Option 3
[edit]- Matrifocal family
- Article Evaluation
- In class, we discussed Morality, Family, and the Natural Law, alongside the "redundant women" and the rise of the census. We also read about how heterosexual sex was, at one time, considered incompatible, because men wanted an orgasm and women wanted emotion/babies. I'd love to learn more about how the family structure and dynamics changed over the years and how sex and sexuality played into that (eg. the number of children in families, whether the husband had a mistress and if it was acceptable/expected in society, non-heterosexual family structures, "irregular unions").
- Sources
Fenton-Hathaway, Anna. “Charlotte Brontë, Mary Taylor, and the ‘Redundant Women’ Debate.” Brontë Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, July 2010, pp. 137–148, doi:10.1179/147489310X12687567775174.
Option 4
[edit]- Victorian erotica
- If this is the topic I choose, I'd like to focus more on same-sex Victorian erotica, Regency era erotica, and Victorian erotica that gives women agency. In the Wikipedia article, they split Victorian erotica into two categories; both are written by men, and the latter describes women as "sex objects". They do cover same-sex and lesbian erotica, but both segments of the article are slim. From what we've learned in class, women were involved in their own sexual histories, and focusing on things like Catherine Linck's trial and how Victorian/Regency era erotica is still relevant today (think Bridgerton).
- Sources
Gay, Peter. “Victorian Sexuality : Old Texts and New Insights.” American Scholar 49(1980):3 S. 372-378 1980.
Option 5
[edit]- Julie d'Aubigny
- Julie d'Aubigny was a French opera singer, 1673-1707. She is known for having a wild, gossipy social life, had relationships with both men and women, and is considered a queer icon. She would beat boys/men in fencing, became a mistress at 14, and wore men's clothes in public. She has been portrayed many times in various medias. I would love to learn more about her and write more about how her existence and role in society helped pave the way for French queer children, the effect her actions had on the opera industry, and if she faced any backlash/imprisonment for her actions.
- Sources
- "d'Aubigny, Julie." Encyclopedia of World Biography, edited by Lisa Kumar, 2nd ed., vol. 37, Gale, 2017, pp. 85-87. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3656400049/AONE?u=ocul_carleton&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=1ad42480. Accessed 1 Feb. 2023.