“By nature a woman”: Virginity and fertility in the 5^th to 7^th C. Byzantine hagiographical motif of the woman disguised as monk – Melissa Cocks (UCLA)

The motif of the holy woman disguised as a monk and dwelling within a male monastery has received increasing scholarly attention as of late. I have focused my analysis on the 12 narratives containing the motif that can be attributed with confidence to the period between the 5^th and 7^th C. While others have treated on the possible origins and psychological meanings of the motif, in my paper I focus on the characterization of the sexuality of the protagonists of these Lives.

I begin by answering the question of why these women adopt their masculine disguises. Their motives for doing so are deeply intertwined with their gender and especially their sexuality. I analyze the way authors portray both their sexuality, specifically contrasting their virginity and their fertility. The authors of these texts paint a picture of women determined to maintain their sexual purity, but imprisoned in female flesh that exudes fertility. This results in their being the brunt of aggressive sexual advances by those around them, both male and female. They are vehement virgins in a world where their potential as sexual partners confronts them at every turn.

These observations of the description of the sexuality of these women are combined with an examination of the uses of Byzantine hagiography in general, as well as Lives which specifically contain the motif itself. Looking at the hagiographies of women who disguise themselves as monks from these two angles, charcterization and audience, then enables discussion of the possible meanings of the motif as a whole.