Rachel Gevlin earns AAUW fellowship to support book on sexual mores in domestic fiction

By Sian Wilkerson

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rachel Gevlin has been named a fellow of the American Association of University Women for the upcoming academic year.

During the one-year fellowship, Gevlin, Ph.D., a teaching assistant professor in the Department of English in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will work on her new book, which explores how British authors such as Jane Austen characterized men’s pre- and extra-marital sex.

Tentatively titled “Divorcing the Rake: Male Sexual Conduct in Domestic Fiction,” the project examines narratives of adultery, bigamy and divorce in domestic novels from the late 18th century. Examining plots of marital breakdown, Gevlin argues that sympathetic portrayals of these behaviors helped solidify naturalized assumptions around the gendered divide in sexual desire.

Founded in 1881, the AAUW has awarded more than $150 million in its work to increase women’s access, opportunity and equity in higher education. Gevlin was awarded a one-year American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, which includes a $50,000 stipend and provides support to academics pursuing independent research.

“I am incredibly honored to have received this award,” she said. “Not only because of the highly competitive nature of these fellowships but also because it affirms the importance of my research to the fields of 18th-century studies and women and gender studies.”