During the nineteenth century, words like 'intersex' and 'trans' had not yet been invented to describe individuals whose bodies, or senses of self, conflicted with binary sex. But that does not mean that such people did not exist. In nineteenth-century France, case studies filled...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Linton, Anne E. 1981- (Author)
Format:	Electronic eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2022
Subjects:	Geschichte 1800-1900 Intersex people / France / History / 19th century Sex determination / France / History / 19th century Intersexuality / France / History / 19th century Intergeschlechtlichkeit Transsexualität Frankreich
Online Access:	DE-12 DE-473 Volltext
Summary:	During the nineteenth century, words like 'intersex' and 'trans' had not yet been invented to describe individuals whose bodies, or senses of self, conflicted with binary sex. But that does not mean that such people did not exist. In nineteenth-century France, case studies filled medical journals, high-profile trials captured headlines, and doctors staked their reputations on sex determinations only to have them later reversed by colleagues. While medical experts fought over what separated a man from a woman, novelists began to explore debates about binary sex and describe the experiences of gender-ambiguous characters. Anne Linton discusses over 200 newly-uncovered case studies while offering fresh readings of literature by several famous writers of the period, as well as long-overlooked popular fiction. This landmark contribution to the history of sexuality is the first book to examine intersex in both medicine and literature, sensitively relating historical 'hermaphrodism' to contemporary intersex activism and scholarship
Item Description:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Mar 2022) Introduction: gender revolution before intersex or transgender -- Part one. A cultural history of "hermaphrodism" from the archives -- Prescribed fictions: stories of "hermaphrodism" vs. true sex -- Outlaws from birth: "doubtful sex" and the civil code -- Part two. Contextualizing high and low literary narratives -- Is she or isn't he? Plotting ambiguous gender -- Inheriting "hermaphrodism": how degeneration theory changed literature and medicine -- Epilogue: the nineteenth-century roots of contemporary resistance to true sex
Physical Description:	1 Online-Ressource (x, 254 Seiten)
ISBN:	9781009053037
DOI:	10.1017/9781009053037