Where Men are Men and Women are Women? The Song of Songs and Gender

Abstract

The Song of Songs imagines a world in which “men are men” and “women are women,” yet a world in which masculine and feminine relate in caring, often mutualistic, ways. This article examines the ways the Song constructs masculinity and femininity, especially the ways it attempts to restore clear boundaries between the genders when these boundaries become blurry. Christian theological readings have focused on the love between the two figures as in some way representing the divine love; reading the way the Song presents gender can offer a new perspective on love, both human and