Gender and Secrecy

This special issue of the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies examines the connections between secrecy, domesticity, subjectivity, and gender. The issue considers a variety of different sources and contexts, from gossip to the confessional, and from gynecological texts to court records. One article considers the trial and execution of a woman charged with "female sodomy," and another analyses the linguistic dyads that helped define gender roles and norms. Finding that ideas about secrecy and privacy are inextricably linked to notions of gender, the articles collected here tackle the intricacies surrounding social, intellectual, sexual, literary modes of inclusion and exclusion.