The Lewd and the Ludic: Female Pleasure in the Fabliaux

Abstract

Women in the fabliaux are sexually insatiable and likely to cuckold their husbands, using their quick wit to get away with their sexual indiscretions. This truism about fabliau women has been used by some as evidence to demonstrate the fabliaux’ misogyny, while others have argued that it puts women “on top,” making us admire the clever resourceful heroine and laugh scornfully at the weak, gullible, or dim-witted husband.1 It is not my intent in this essay to rehash the debate over the fabliaux’ presumed antifeminism. Rather, I propose to look at the intersection of the lewd and the ludic to ask what other kinds of female pleasure besides sexual pleasure are evoked in the Fabliaux and to consider the range of attitudes toward those pleasures.