Fedchenko Y. Gender and sexuality in religious and socio-political practices and visual culture of ancient Rome (I century BC – I century AD).

The thesis is devoted to the complex study of socio-cultural constructs of gender and sexuality in religious and socio-political practices and visual culture of ancient Rome (I century BC – I century AD). In the twentieth century, transformational processes (sexual revolution, feminist movements, the fight against racial segregation) took place in the United States and Europe, which completely changed gender identity and divided concepts such as sex and gender. The modification of views on sexuality and gender-role paradigm has given impetus to new research on this topic, which today is a promising scientific frontier. The relevance of the study is due to the demands of modern society, where the place of gender and sexuality in history is being revised, which is impossible without going back to antiquity, in particular, ancient Roman history. The thesis traces the historiography of the issue and extracts three key stages: Stage 1 (XVIII century – 1929) laying the basis for the scientific study of gender and sexuality of Greco-Roman civilization; Stage 2 (1929 – 1960) the influence of the Annals school (1929) and the creation of the basics of the feminist philosophy (French scientist S. de Beauvoir). The actualization of the scientific direction “Women’s History” in the context of everyday research; Stage 3 (1960 – present) socio-cultural transformations (“sexual revolution”, the second wave of feminist movements, problems of racial segregation) and as a result, the enhancement of research on this topic. In addition, the study specifies that two directions prevail in the scientific development of the problem: 1) M. Foucault and his followers (discourse of sexuality, power/subjugation); 2) Feminist, formed by S. Pomeroy.