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- ONLINE More Than a MILF: Writing Sex and the Aging Female Body
ONLINE More Than a MILF: Writing Sex and the Aging Female Body
8 Weeks | Sundays | Begins February 23, 2025
12pm-2pm PT | 1pm-3pm MT | 2pm-4pm CT | 3pm-5pm ET | 4pm-6pm AT
Instructor: Robyn Diner
MEMBER PRICE: $300.00
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $400.00
Recent literary novels are asking: What do aging women want? In these texts, the answer seems that some desire a break from monogamy and domesticity, casual young lovers of all genders, and a hotel room of their own. Ironically, many of these unruly female protagonists are honouring their peri, post or presently menopause selves with swagger ---at a time when their newly seemingly invisible bodies are sagging in surprising places. But what else is going on in these novels? This workshop asks: How do some specific contemporary literary works both embrace and disrupt reductive and often cringy tropes featuring aging women as MILFS? How can we best write our own – no longer young – bodies and desires back into the picture, with a difference?
In this 8-week course, literary works like Miranda July’s All Fours, Annie Ernaux’s Simple Passion, Susan Minot’s Don’t be a Stranger, Tom Perrotta’s Mrs. Fletcher and Junot Diaz’ “Miss Lora” enter into conversation with one another. Insights into how some of these texts meet, greet and get off on ideas rooted in intersectional feminism, queer theory and sexuality studies are also briefly highlighted.
Then, most importantly, participants are invited to get experiential, fictional and playful while working with tailored prompts specifically designed to help writers create a draft of one’s own. Participants are invited to share their work, receive feedback and walk away with a deeper understanding of the stakes involved in writing about sex and the aging female body.
This class takes place online using Zoom.
Robyn Diner has taught many gender and sexuality courses at Concordia University, and she currently teaches literature and pop culture at Vanier College. She is working on an autofiction novel titled Badass Teacher Lady: Tales From the Classroom and Beyond. Robyn lives a childfree, poly existence in in the Mile End in Montréal where she continues to be amazed by the price of dresses at the neighborhood thrift shop -- never mind the cost of groceries. She also spends way too much time thinking about dating.
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