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Edwards-Daem, A, 2024. From living dolls to sex bots: the doll in twentieth century and contemporary women’s writing. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
This thesis examines representations of the doll in modern and contemporary women’s writing, with a particular focus on gender, and its intersections with race and class. As a surrogate woman constructed under patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism, the doll is an important symbol in the history of feminist discourse and women’s literature. This thesis identifies four different types of doll that feature in women’s writing: The Living Doll, The Barbie Doll, The Sex Doll and The AI Doll. Chapter One, The Living Doll, examines the way doll-like traits are projected on to women, showing how women writers recast the ‘Living Doll’ stereotype to highlight and challenge patriarchal expectations of femininity, masculinity and race. Chapter Two, The Barbie Doll, surveys several contemporary texts by women writers which feature Barbie to show how these texts use her to challenge a branch of third-wave feminism which celebrates Barbie as feminist. Instead, this chapter argues that Barbie is a symbol of unrealistic body standards, female commodification, and capitalist greed, which has been manufactured by Mattel for profit. Chapter Three, The Sex Doll, draws on under-examined texts by two famous female authors to show how the figure in women’s writing moves from a symbol of female sexual liberation in the early twentieth century to a symbol of female objectification with the rise of technology and the sex industry. Chapter Four, The AI Doll, marks a turning point, whereby the figure of the doll moves from object to subject. This final chapter examines the feminist potential of the AI Doll as featured in women’s science fiction from 1925 until 2023, which establishes how this figure can help to deconstruct gender binaries and patriarchal hierarchies. Ultimately, the thesis argues that women writers repurpose the figure of the doll to critique the patriarchal versions of womanhood that the figure represents in the context of late stage capitalism.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Edwards-Daem, A. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID |
| Date: | September 2024 |
| Rights: | The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author. |
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Arts and Humanities |
| Record created by: | Jeremy Silvester |
| Date Added: | 01 Aug 2025 12:52 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2025 12:52 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54100 |
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2584-1231Actions (login required)
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