Knowledge Tree
Sapphic Crossings
Also known as: Sapphic Structures
Facts (15)
Sources
Issues | Digital Defoe digitaldefoe.org 15 facts
claimThe book 'Sapphic Crossings' (also referred to as 'Sapphic Structures') by Klein examines how writers construct visions of same-sex desire and the social gendering of the body.
quoteKlein states in the introduction of 'Sapphic Crossings' that the book's lesbian focus 'does not intend to, nor should it be read to, negate the possibility of reading a trans man loving ciswomen and ciswomen attracted to a trans man'.
claimThe book 'Sapphic Crossings' by Klein primarily focuses on lesbian readings of historical figures, while trans readings are alluded to but infrequently performed.
claim'Sapphic Crossings' is a work of lesbian scholarship that offers insights into same-sex dynamics and attraction in the eighteenth century.
claimIn 'Sapphic Crossings', Klein argues that in the eighteenth century, the ability to grow a beard was a popular conception of maleness, making the lack of a beard a significant obstacle for cross-dressed women.
quoteKlein writes in 'Sapphic Crossings': "when we [place] trans and lesbian in binary opposition, we fall into the same trap that trans studies and queer studies themselves have long sought to evade" (11).
quoteKlein suggests in 'Sapphic Crossings' that the representations discussed in the book "contain moments for reading gender fluidity and transness in the past" (15).
referenceThe book 'Sapphic Crossings' by Klein is structured into four chapters, each analyzing the historical, socio-cultural, and literary significance of a specific body part: the beard, the breast, the penis, and the legs.
referenceIn Chapter Three of 'Sapphic Crossings', titled 'Penetrating Discourse and Sapphic Dildos', Klein compares editor or author notes in later editions to formal dildos, describing them as a 'strapped-on textual appendage' intended to satisfy skeptical readers.
claimA central contention in 'Sapphic Crossings' is that the cross-dressed woman is desired for her femininity rather than her masculinity.
referenceKlein organizes the chapters of 'Sapphic Crossings' around the body rather than chronology or genre to highlight consistencies in cross-dressing narratives.
perspectiveThe reviewer of 'Sapphic Crossings' argues that the book lacks sufficient theorization of transness and transmasculinity, which leads to an implication that transmasculine people are fundamentally more feminine than cisgender male counterparts.
referenceSapphic Crossings analyzes a variety of texts, including sensationalized biographies like The Female Husband (1746) and The Female Soldier (1750), novelistic representations such as Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Simple Story (1791) and Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda (1801), and the 'breeches role' popular on the stage.
claimThe book 'Sapphic Crossings' by Klein argues that authors' persistent feminization of cross-dressers betrays the men's discomfort with women seducing other women, rather than with women dressing as men.
claimSapphic Crossings is situated within a genealogy of lesbian scholarship that includes the work of Terry Castle, Emma Donoghue, Sue Lanser, and Valerie Traub.