Course:WMST 307: Student Pages: 307: Sarah Sperling

Liminality

Liminal, liminality, or liminal space or period can be defined as a state of being “in-between”. It is an anthropological term that refers to the transition from one state to another and, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means to occupy “a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.” Historically speaking, the term was used as “liminal condition” to mean “between two periods of active social life” (Oxford English Dictionary). The term was originally coined by Arnold van Gennep to refer to transitions in stages of rituals (Encyclopedia Britannica Online), it is today applied to changes social, political, and cultural states as well.

Kirrilly Thompson, in her article “Delaying the Sexualisation of Children: Do We Know What We Mean?” uses liminality to describe the states of being a young female passes through in her sexual development. A young girl’s official transition into a womanhood is often marked biologically by the beginning of her menstrual cycle. However, according to Thompson, this can conflict with the social and cultural constructions of adulthood. When this occurs, a period of “incongruence” occurs, causing the girl to “now exist in a liminal period” (Thompson), where she must wait for her own adulthood and society’s interpretation of adulthood to concur. Typically, this liminal space is seen as one of vulnerability. Young girls are, therefore, generally sheltered away from sexualised behaviour in order to protect this weak state. This sheltering is done by the adults in society who place their own ideologies of adulthood and sexuality onto the younger generation, regardless of what that generation believes. Thompson states that society must discontinue using their “insider” point of view and expand their knowledge regarding children and sexuality in order to protect these liminal states of development.

Sources:

"Arnold van Gennep". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/229199/Arnold-van-Gennep>.

"liminal, adj.". OED Online. September 2012. Oxford University Press. 27 November 2012 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/108471?redirectedFrom=liminal>.

Thomspon, Kirrilly. “Because Looks Can Be Deceiving: Media Alarm and the Sexualisation of Childhood- Do We Know What We Mean?” Journal of Gender Studies. 19:4 (2010)” 395-400.