Virgin Envy: The Cultural (In)Significance of the Hymen

Jonathan Allan is Canada Research Chair in Queer Theory and Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and English and Creative Writing at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba. He is the author of Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus.

Cristina Santos is an Associate Professor at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario. Her current research investigates the monstrous depictions of women as aberrations of feminine nature vis-à-vis the socio-culturally proscribed norm. Publications include Defiant Deviance: The Irreality of Reality in the Cultural Imaginary; The Monster Imagined: Humanity's Re-Creation of Monsters and Monstrosity; and Monstrous Deviations in Literature and the Arts.

Adriana Spahr received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. She explores the interdisciplinary connections between cultural and political components in Latin American literature, especially in Argentina. Her last co-authored book, Madre de Mendoza/Mother of Mendoza, reflects her current research interest in testimonial literature.