Like many articles of this era, Bruster begins by explaining that (and why) there is a dearth of academic investigation into the topic of female homoeroticism in [insert topic here]. He asserts that prior work has focused on affirmative and subversive portrayals of female homoeroticism, resulting in an incomplete and idealized picture. So he’s going to be iconoclastic and look at less positive portrayals of female-female eroticism on the stage.
Literary Predatory Erotics
I've borrowed this term from Denise Walen's work on themes in early modern drama to indicate literary characters where the desire of one woman for another is framed as a non-consensual, predatory relationship. In addition to genuine sexual desire, this may include characters who simply use sexual aggression as a means of controling or punishing another woman.
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