Author: Bettina Bildhauer, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews - ORCID, Wikipedia

Abstract: »Developing our brief discussion of The Seven Sages of Rome in the Auchinleck manuscript, Bettina Bildhauer, in ‘Sexualised Violence by a Woman against a Boy: Upsetting the Binary Gender Hierarchy in Of the Seven Masters’, then explores how binary constructions of gender are vital to upholding male hegemony within the narrative tradition of The Seven Sages, focusing on a German manuscript version known as Of the Seven Masters. Bildhauer examines how the possibility of a young man being raped by a woman is presented as a source of anxiety only conceptualisable within a framework where gender can be reasserted as defined by genitalia. Bildhauer’s work, in tandem with our chapter and Emmet Taylor’s following analysis, reveals how difficult and indiscussible a topic sexual violence against men was in medieval Europe, yet also draws attention to the moments in which it can be perceived.« (Source: Bonsall, Jane, and Hannah Piercy. »Introduction: Why Reconsider Medieval Consent and Coercion? Why Now?« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 31)

Contents:

	The Seven Sages of Rome (p. 131)
	The Unnarratable Story of a Woman Sexually Propositioning a Boy (p. 133)
	The More Familiar Story of a Boy Sexually Assaulting a Woman (p. 136)
	Making a Female Perpetrator Plausible (p. 137)
	Making a Male Victim-Survivor Acceptable (p. 138)
	The Assault by a Woman against a Boy Becomes Tellable: The Son’s Story (p. 141)
	The Impossibility of a Universally Accepted Truth about Sexual Violence and about Gender Identity: Multiple Stories (p. 142)
	Conclusion (p. 146)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Germany | Literature: German literature / Seven Wise Masters | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape