As women continue to establish themselves at the forefront of the Gothic, N.A. Kimber and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford whisk us through the Gothics problematic history to where we are today
CLASS DESCRIPTION
This lecture will introduce or reintroduce the Gothic, bringing up common aspects and
tropes of the genre and how they relate to and influence our views of women. Using these tropes as a starting point for exploration, we will discuss how viewing women under this myopic lens not only enacts and condones prejudice, violence, and fear of women, but how this bleeds into real life consequences in our othering of women as necessary means to uphold patriarchal values.
What is feminine is important and often used in a derogatory manner in regards to women, characters who are coded LGBTQA+, the elderly, and children. These feminised characters are included in the subject of othering to invalidate their experiences, emotions, and often times their autonomy and lives as they are structured to make us hate them so that the violence inflicted upon them is seen as just. Violence, abuse, illness, and death are common for feminised characters within the Gothic. Depictions of death often range from beautiful, to playing the role of the emotional death leading to the physical death of the main male protagonist.
Gothic work of women writers and artists has opened discussions on systems of abuse and mistreatment of which they were subject to and were also able to write about their own thoughts, feelings, and desires. However, many of these books still fell victim to many of the classic tropes of the Gothic.
Moving into the contemporary, we will discuss the need for the continued evolution of the genre,
promoting varied voices and views to change and influence new tropes within the Gothic. As women continue to establish themselves at the forefront of the Gothic, we see how they have adapted it to regain autonomy and control over-self and how these positive changes in such a dominant genre will have a vast impact on our societal views of women.
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
N.A. Kimber and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford are twin sisters from Caledon, Ontario, Canada. N.A. Kimber is a writer and teacher and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford is an artist. The two frequently collaborate while also working on their individual careers. Together they co-founded the publication, Forget Me Not Press, an online Literary and Arts journal. They both have a deep love for literature, writing, and art.
Kimber and Donoghue-Stanford recently published their short story "Anatomy of Eve" a re-telling of Chapter 20 from the female-monster's perspective published in the online publication Grim and Gilded. They presented a lecture The Gothic: Girlish and Ghastly at the University of the Arts London in 2021, introducing students to the concept of the Gothic feminine, and each focuses on the Gothic in their own artistic practice. Individually, both sisters have experience teaching to various age groups, as well as hosting lectures to various schools and boards throughout Ontario.
The two consistently inspire one another and are proud and lucky to have a creative collaborator and a twin sister rolled into one.
Instagram: @kedonoghue_stanford and
@nahydekimber
Website: https://www.nakimber.org/ and https://forgetmenotpress.net/
UPCOMING SESSIONS WITH THE FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM
Monday 16th September
Kitty Underhill (she/her)
Where do Flaws Come From?: Bellies, Bodies and the Social Construction of
Imperfection
Monday 23rd September
N.A. Kimber (she/her) and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford (she/her)
Death and the Maiden: Femininity in the Gothic
Monday 30th September
Carolina Hades (she/her)
Pole Dancing Against the Algorithm
Monday 7th October
Janine Francois (she/they)
Black {Gendered} Space Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space
Monday 14th October
Parumveer Walia (he/him)
Staged Bodies: Performativity in Feminist Photography
Monday 21st October
Isobel Atacus (she/they)
Eva Hesse: Imagining the Unruly
Monday 28th October
Gudrun Filipska (she/her)
Feminism and Zombie Culture
Monday 4th November
Anna Titov (she/her)
Cyborgs, Transcorporeality and Volatile Bodies: Ecofeminist Theories of Embodiment
Monday 11th November
COMING SOON
Monday 18th November
Melissa Baksh (she/her)
Whitewashed? Whiteness and Femininity in Art History
Monday 25th November
Dr. Noam Yadin Evron (she/her)
Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Artist, Composer, Pioneer
Monday 2nd December
COMING SOON
Monday 9th December
Baylee Woodley (they/them)
Medieval Femmes: Queer Femininities in Medieval England
Monday 16th December
Summer Lee (she/her)
The Incendiary History of Red Lingerie
RECORDING
A recording of the lecture will be sent out by The Feminist Lecture Program after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. This email will also contain any resources/reading list the lecturer shares.
Please add [email protected] to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.
Please note that the recording will expire 7 days after sending.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of 20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
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We're really looking forward to you joining us x
