Painful Pleasure. Saintly Torture on the Verge of Pornography
Within female hagiographical narratives, stimulating, pornographic, and often sadistic endeavours can be detected; gendering the tortured body parts such as the tongue, teeth or the breast and thus supporting the development of (negative) erotic fantasies. This paper will explore the connection betw...
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2014 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repository: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:119456 |
| Online Access: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/119456 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Women Saints Hagiography Torture Pornography Body Santas Hagiografias Tortura Pornografia Corpo |
| Summary: | Within female hagiographical narratives, stimulating, pornographic, and often sadistic endeavours can be detected; gendering the tortured body parts such as the tongue, teeth or the breast and thus supporting the development of (negative) erotic fantasies. This paper will explore the connection between pornography, torture, and hagiography and investigate the ambiguity of this 'painful pleasure', which, despite any assumptions, is not only enjoyed by the male torturer when cutting off these symbolically significant body parts, but recurrently so it seems also by the saint herself, who more than once cheerfully exclaims that 'the pains are my delight' (St Agatha). |
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