Remaking Masculinity: Split Britches, Killer Lesbians, and the Cultural Disruption of Masculine Violence
Scott Knowles
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SCOTT KNOWLES is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at Southern Utah University (SUU). He received an MA from Florida State University and a PhD from the University of Kansas. His dissertation, “Dystopian Performatives: Negative Affect/Emotion in the Work of Sarah Kane” focused on the performative impact of violent scenes from Kane’s work on the affect/emotion of an audience. He has presented this work along with research focused on race, gender, directing, and dramaturgy at conferences such as the American Society for Theatre Research, The Mid-America Theatre Conference, Theatre Symposium, and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. His directing work focuses primarily on theatre for social change, working to involve audience, company, and community in issues beyond the walls of the theatre through a variety of outreach approaches. In 2017, Scott was awarded SUU’s Distinguished Faculty for Inclusion and Diversity based on his work with The Laramie Project.
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Abstract
This essay examines Split Britches’ Lesbians Who Kill (1992) to explore the dynamics of violence and gender within late 1980s and early 1990s feminist thought. The essay examines Split Britches’ utilization of feminist theory¾by such authors as Jill Dolan, Sue-Ellen Case, Lynda Hart, Alisa Solomon, and Kate Davy¾to construct a space for feminism generally and the lesbian feminist specifically in order to ask what this construction might mean for contemporary masculinity. Relying on theories of gender, such as, Judith Halberstam’s female masculinity, Judith Butler’s notion of the performative nature of gender, and Elin Diamond’s mimesis/mimicry, the essay interprets Split Britches’ critique of masculine violence and the perception of the masculine lesbian to seek alternative and positive masculinities for both women and men. Through reading Lesbians Who Kill, we come to understand that its potential to create a feminist space, a female gaze, a feminist spectator, or a collective subject is not only beneficial to women generally and lesbian feminists specifically, but offers up a multitude of possibilities for rethinking the place of masculinities in a feminist paradigm.
This essay examines Split Britches’ Lesbians Who Kill (1992) to explore the dynamics of violence and gender within late 1980s and early 1990s feminist thought. The essay examines Split Britches’ utilization of feminist theory¾by such authors as Jill Dolan, Sue-Ellen Case, Lynda Hart, Alisa Solomon, and Kate Davy¾to construct a space for feminism generally and the lesbian feminist specifically in order to ask what this construction might mean for contemporary masculinity. Relying on theories of gender, such as, Judith Halberstam’s female masculinity, Judith Butler’s notion of the performative nature of gender, and Elin Diamond’s mimesis/mimicry, the essay interprets Split Britches’ critique of masculine violence and the perception of the masculine lesbian to seek alternative and positive masculinities for both women and men. Through reading Lesbians Who Kill, we come to understand that its potential to create a feminist space, a female gaze, a feminist spectator, or a collective subject is not only beneficial to women generally and lesbian feminists specifically, but offers up a multitude of possibilities for rethinking the place of masculinities in a feminist paradigm.
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