Sini Mikkola examines sixteenth-century reformer Martin Luther's view of the human being from the perspectives of bodiliness, gender, sexuality, and power. Luther's construction of femininity, masculinity, and the gender system are investigated by considering both his theoretical and practical viewpoints.
Sini Mikkola examines Martin Luther's (1483-1546) view of the human being during a decade of ecclesiastical, social, and political turmoil, the 1520s, from the perspectives of bodiliness, gendered way of being, sexuality, and power. Luther's way to construct norms, ideals, and expectations vis-à-vis body, femininity, and masculinity are investigated in changing historical and different textual contexts, also via his self-narratives and interaction with contemporary women and men. The author demonstrates that Luther idealized and standardized the gender system, along with its hierarchies, in a very similar fashion throughout the 1520s. However, in addition to driving forward the gender system - based on his stance on the gendered body -, Luther's way to discuss and construct gender was also open to adaptations and developments.
