“If I Be Shaven, Then My Strength Will Go from Me”
A Queer Reading of the Samson Narrative
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Marco Derks in
Current site
Google Scholar
Samson is well known for his long hair and exceptional strength. Most commentators, however, have overlooked the fact that it is Samson himself who constructs a connection between his hair and his strength. He had considered his hairstyle a sign of his hypermasculine identity instead of a demarcation of his Naziriteship. Reading the Samson narrative from a queer perspective, this article shows how Samson’s “heterosexuality” is produced, appears, and dissolves back into queerness. Samson’s hypermasculinity is a covering for his queer identity and results in his construction of several interrelated dualisms (Israel/Philistines, male/female, strong/weak, etc.) and in his excessive use of violence (physical, sexual, rhetorical, symbolic) against both women and men. When he meets a woman (Delilah) who doesn’t fit in his phallogocentric ideology, he reveals his secret through a non-genital erotic play (BDSM) with her and loses his strength when she symbolically castrates him by cutting his hair.
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16
Niditch is citing Bynum 1978: 42–51, 58–64.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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“If I Be Shaven, Then My Strength Will Go from Me”
A Queer Reading of the Samson Narrative
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Marco Derks in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Samson is well known for his long hair and exceptional strength. Most commentators, however, have overlooked the fact that it is Samson himself who constructs a connection between his hair and his strength. He had considered his hairstyle a sign of his hypermasculine identity instead of a demarcation of his Naziriteship. Reading the Samson narrative from a queer perspective, this article shows how Samson’s “heterosexuality” is produced, appears, and dissolves back into queerness. Samson’s hypermasculinity is a covering for his queer identity and results in his construction of several interrelated dualisms (Israel/Philistines, male/female, strong/weak, etc.) and in his excessive use of violence (physical, sexual, rhetorical, symbolic) against both women and men. When he meets a woman (Delilah) who doesn’t fit in his phallogocentric ideology, he reveals his secret through a non-genital erotic play (BDSM) with her and loses his strength when she symbolically castrates him by cutting his hair.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 782 | 143 | 6 |
| Full Text Views | 339 | 15 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 334 | 46 | 2 |
