Martha Vicinus
Martha Vicinus | |
|---|---|
Martha Vicinus at "The Future of the Queer Past" conference at the University of Chicago in September 2000 | |
| Born | November 20, 1939 Rochester, New York United States |
| Occupation | Historian, Writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Northwestern University Johns Hopkins University University of Wisconsin |
| Subject | Women's Literature Modernism Nineteenth-Century Britain Gender and Sexuality Modern British History |
| Notable works | Independent Women Suffer and Be Still A Widening Sphere |
Martha Vicinus (born November 20, 1939) is an American scholar of English literature and Women's studies. She serves as the Eliza M. Mosher Distinguished University Professor of English, Women's Studies, and History at the University of Michigan. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, Vicinus was a faculty member in the English Department at Indiana University from 1968 to 1982. She has written several books about Victorian women as well as gender and sexuality. She earned a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1968.
She has been noted for drawing attention to the Victorian double standards that were applied to women and to the Victorian ideal of women without sexual desires. She has argued that society often defines sexuality through a male heterosexual perspective.
In addition to her career as a scholar, she has been active as an advocate of anti-war and LGBT causes.