Gender

Gender in the Middle Ages was not understood as a pre-existent binary, but rhetorically constructed and negotiated as a spectrum. The Seven Sages as one of the most influential cultural artefacts of the Middle Ages and early modernity demonstrates this understanding of gender. The plot in most versions discusses cross-dressing, gender fluidity and gender-non-conforming bodies, as well as the violence it takes ultimately to uphold the hierarchical gender binary.

The Seven Sages is commonly identified as misogynistic, due to its explicitly voiced distrust of all women, and to the portrayal of the female protagonist in the frame narrative as the apparent villain: a vindictive, mendacious, lustful femme fatale. We propose a fresh start: while not denying the misogynistic gist, we allow for the possibility of emancipatory counter-readings, reconsidering how the text situates the female protagonist in a gendered power distribution and allows her to spell out her difficulties with it: for instance, her insecure position as a woman of high nobility without children of her own, or a marriage to a much older man unable to satisfy her sexually.

Our intersectional approach to the relationship between gender, social status, sexuality, ethnicity and religion can help to understand how the transcultural transmission of the narrative matter affects its content.