The politics of gender and Sexuaiity in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata Ihsan Alwan Muhsin.

Abstract EN

Gender, sexuality and power have always shared a complex and dynamic relationship.

As societal and cultural values shift, so too do the connections between these forces.

This is especially well-demonstrated in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, a Greek play originally performed around 411 BC.

The age of the play belies the progressive nature of the text, a point documented in this paper, which uses the issues of gender and sexuality explored in the play to engage in a broader discussion on how sexuality and power relations between the sexes impact one another.

The discussion is given background with a theoretical investigion of the various scholarly theories on gender, sexuality and power dynamics.

Subsequently, the discussion focuses on the plot action and subtext of Lysistrata with an emphasis on how the female characters employed the power of sexual withholding in order to transpose traditional power structures.

As the discussion will show, Aristophanes was neither feminist nor ^tiwar, but his progressive exploration of both lends great insight into the openness of socio-cultural discourse in ancient Greece.

Introduction Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is one of the eleven plays penned by the playwright that has survived over time.

The original performance of this production occurred in classical Athens reportedly in 411 BC1.

Lysistrata is considered a comedy; an account of one woman’s unique goal and desire to end the ?eloponnesian War.

During the course of the play, Lysistrata is able to persuade the women of Greece to withhold any form of sexual satisfaction from their lovers and husbands as a tool designed to force the men to negotiate peace^.

This suggested strategy, however, incites the battle between the men and women.

Because of the use of sex as an imperative weapon in this battle, issues raised with regard to .37 ,(1973 ,1 Alan Sommerstein, Aristophanes Lysistrata (Penguin Classics 2ibid