b'Women and Gender StudiesChristian Asceticism and Ascetic Women in the Fourth Century Roman EmpireKallie T. AdamsSponsor: Dr. Lavonna Lovern, Department of Women and Gender StudiesAsceticism, a practice of restricting ones bodily desires, was practiced in many cultures before the rise of Christianity, but the Christian Ascetic movement of the Roman Empire differed from other forms of asceticism in its re-writing of womens roles. This paper will examine the rise of Christian asceticism as both a social and political alternative to traditional female roles that required early marriage, child rearing, and subordination to men. The paper will focus on research conducted by Elizabeth Castelli and Elizabeth Clark and their distinct interpretations of the females role in the fourth century Roman Empire. The paper will also examine how Christian asceticism allowed women to step outside of these traditional sociosexual roles enabling them to express their sexuality in different ways, pursue intellectual endeavors and academics, and obtain their own wealth and property. While asceticism promoted these possibilities for social and political advancement, the masculine dominated theology continued to discuss female ascetics using hypersexualized language. Finally, this paper examines the average Roman womans experiences and how these experiences could change by pursuing an ascetic lifestyle, including the debate as to whether women benefitted in rejecting traditional sociosexual roles.98'