ABSTRACT
Women presented other challenges to late antique society aside from their participation in the sexual act. At the same time that virginity was being encouraged as a lifestyle, the Ecumenical Councils were debating the motherhood of Christ, placing the position of female ascetics within a 'discourse of control and denial'. During late antiquity women had to act in an extraordinary way, against expectation and convention, in order to be part of redeemed humanity. Martyrdom presented one option; disguising their femininity another. Choosing an ascetic life was counter-cultural; this is emphasised by the language used to describe such endeavour. Women becoming masculinised through their ascetic lives not only affected themselves but impacted on society: just as it was seen as remarkable for them to behave in a 'male' way by giving up sex, so men appearing in any way 'womanly' was unusual and unacceptable. There are numerous examples of transvestite saints in the desert, the prototype perhaps being Mary of Egypt.
