Sexuality in Alice Munro's Fiction

The days when sex and sexuality were regarded as being something shameful or offensive and therefore were hidden behind social denial are over. While the term 'sex' usually only refers to the act of sexual intercourse and accordingly to physical aspects, the term 'sexuality' has a broader meaning and plays a fundamental role concerning the human identity, including not only physical but also personal and social aspects, as well as emotional and mental ones. The act of sexual intercourse nevertheless should not be reduced to physical aspects and 'only' be seen as a momentary pleasure but must be considered to be an elementary part of human relationships. This work examines in which way Alice Munro presents her female protagonists' sexuality throughout her oeuvre. Munro provides her readers with a great variety of different characters whose sexuality and other sexual aspects basically always play an elementary role. It is therefore possible to examine what Munro's protagonists' sexuality looks like at the different stages of their maturational development, starting at young age and portraying it until old age.