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English Language and Literature
City University of New York (CUNY)
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Full-Text Articles in Intellectual History
The Virtue Mentality, Rachel Eckhardt
The Virtue Mentality, Rachel Eckhardt
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
In my study of early feminist fiction and contemporary queer intentional communities, highly ambitious and nearly impossible aspirations emerged as a singular uniting theme. From early feminist novelists to the intrepid founders of lesbian lands, utopian women share a passionate commitment to transform the world. This thesis engages with feminist concepts of virtue and how they influence utopian projects in both fiction and in life, whether the word “virtue” itself is used to describe the project or not. Virtue has made a lasting impact on contemporary feminist utopian projects that sometimes creates conflict and often undermines its liberatory aspirations. When …