In Virgin Whore, Emma Maggie Solberg uncovers a surprisingly prevalent theme in late English medieval literature and culture: the celebration of the Virgin Mary’s sexuality. Although history is narrated as a progressive loss of innocence, the Madonna has grown purer with each passing century. Looking to a period before the idea of her purity and virginity had ossified, Solberg uncovers depictions and interpretations of Mary, discernible in jokes and insults, icons and rituals, prayers and revelations, allegories and typologies—and in late medieval vernacular biblical drama. More unmistakable than any cultural artifact from late medieval England, these biblical plays do not exclusively interpret Mary and her virginity as fragile. In a collection of plays known as the N-Town manuscript, Mary is represented not only as virgin and mother but as virgin and promiscuous adulteress, dallying with the Trinity, the archangel Gabriel, and mortals in kaleidoscopic erotic combinations. Mary’s "virginity" signifies invulnerability rather than fragility, redemption rather than renunciation, and merciful license rather than ascetic discipline. Taking the ancient slander that Mary conceived Jesus in sin as cause for joyful laughter, the N-Town plays make a virtue of those accusations: through bawdy yet divine comedy, she redeems and exalts the crime. By revealing the presence of this promiscuous Virgin in early English drama and late medieval literature and culture—in dirty jokes told by Boccaccio and Chaucer, Malory’s Arthurian romances, and the double entendres of the allegorical Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn—Solberg provides a new understanding of Marian traditions.

In Virgin Whore, Emma Maggie Solberg uncovers a surprisingly prevalent theme in late English medieval literature and culture: the celebration of the Virgin Mary’s sexuality. Although history is narrated as a progressive loss of innocence, the Madonna has grown purer with each passing century. Looking to a period before the idea of her purity and virginity had ossified, Solberg uncovers depictions and interpretations of Mary, discernible in jokes and insults, icons and rituals, prayers and revelations, allegories and typologies—and in late medieval vernacular biblical drama. More unmistakable than any cultural artifact from late medieval England, these biblical plays do not exclusively interpret Mary and her virginity as fragile. In a collection of plays known as the N-Town manuscript, Mary is represented not only as virgin and mother but as virgin and promiscuous adulteress, dallying with the Trinity, the archangel Gabriel, and mortals in kaleidoscopic erotic combinations. Mary’s "virginity" signifies invulnerability rather than fragility, redemption rather than renunciation, and merciful license rather than ascetic discipline. Taking the ancient slander that Mary conceived Jesus in sin as cause for joyful laughter, the N-Town plays make a virtue of those accusations: through bawdy yet divine comedy, she redeems and exalts the crime. By revealing the presence of this promiscuous Virgin in early English drama and late medieval literature and culture—in dirty jokes told by Boccaccio and Chaucer, Malory’s Arthurian romances, and the double entendres of the allegorical Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn—Solberg provides a new understanding of Marian traditions.

For Some Men, Love and Sex Do Not Go Together There are many names for it: Madonna/Whore Complex; Madonna-Whore Syndrome; Virgin/Whore Complex; Prostitute-Versus-Madonna Syndrome; Virgin-Prostitute Syndrome; Pedestal/Gutter Syndrome; Madonna-Whore Dichotomy; Virgin-Madonna-Whore Complex; Madonna vs. Harlot; Obscenity-Purity Complex; Good Girl-Bad Girl Dichotomy. Regardless of the name, it refers to the male sexual dysfunction in which some men believe that sex is a dirty act that is only enjoyed by "bad" women-whores. For these men, all women are divided into two very different groups: the whores/prostitutes/harlots, women who are easily seduced and who enjoy the dirty act of sex; and the Madonnas/virgins-as in the Virgin Mary-pure women of virtue who would never enjoy sex and who should not be degraded by the sex act. These men, who love their wives too much to have sex with them, marry virgins but save their passion for whores. For a woman brought up believing "good girls don't," marriage is supposed to be when "good girls do." She may link marriage, love, and sex together but marriage to a man with the Madonna/Whore Complex will be essentially sexless. A man diagnosed with the Madonna/Whore Complex does not want to have a wife "who is a lady in public and a whore in the bedroom." He expects his wife to be a lady in public and in private. He does not want her to be sexually aggressive or act whorish (in his opinion). He wants her to be pure in mind and body, virginal in every way. For him, love does not equal sex nor does sex equal love. Table of Contents: Introduction The Madonna/Whore Complex Warning Signs The Virginity Issue The Making of a Madonna Wife Is He or Isn't He? The Wives and Girlfriends The Husbands and Boyfriends Can the Madonna/Whore Complex Be Cured? The Dark Side of the Madonna/Whore Complex Sources