AustLit

'In her article "Matriduxy?: Tracing Colonial Adumbration in Australian Womanhood via a Psychoanalytical Reading of Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children," Theresa Holtby investigates the notion of matriduxy (the alleged dominance of women in Australian families), including its mixed reception by Australian feminist critics, in relation to expressions of imperialist masochistic ideology in fiction, namely in Stead's novel. She argues that there are striking parallels between the role of the dominatrix in Deleuze's theory of masochism and the alleged phenomenon of matriduxy, concluding that the concept of masochism offers a means to reconcile the ostensibly incompatible readings of Australian society through the lens of matriduxy or, on the other hand, misogyny.' (Martina Horakova : Editorial introduction)