Ramón E. Martínez (Ray)

PhD candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a Minor in Gender and Women Studies. Holds a diverse academic background in Literature, Creative Writing, and Theater. His research lies in the intersection of Cultural Studies, Gender & Performance Studies with a interdisciplinary and transnational lense. Investigates the star-text, visual and character construction/representation of the Iberian baroque trope of La mujer varonil and La mujer varón, inhabit in contemporary Film and Literary fiction from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing from studies of cultural representation, gender social construction, female masculinity and the monster theories, as theoretical framework, analyze the implications of the image and power of women constructing masculinity and how it creates an "agreement gap" forced by social and cultural anxieties in postcolonial times.