Defiant Bodies: Discourses on Intersex, 1573-2003

How did the rhetoric and imagery around bodies that defy binary categorizations of sex and gender shift over six centuries?  

To be human is to have notions of physical sex and cultural gender placed upon you, yet not all bodies are clearly “female” or “male.” Today, the widely accepted term for those people whose bodies cannot be strictly categorized within a male-female binary of sex is “intersex,” which evokes the sense of occupying a space between sexes. 

Before the term “intersex” was coined in the early 20th century though, the words “hermaphrodite” and “androgyne” were much more common, the former now rarely used because of its derogatory connotations among the modern intersex community. But these terms were applied both widely and inconsistently in early modern society, referring to those with variations in physical sex and also those who subverted social norms of gendered behavior. Many early modern and modern sources that discuss the “hermaphrodite” or “androgyne” engage simultaneously with ideas of ambiguity of physical sex and nonconformity of social gender. Both terms are reflective of the revival of interest in the literature, culture, and knowledge of classical antiquity that emerged during the early modern period in Europe. “Hermaphrodite,” “androgyne,” and “intersex” each carry nuanced connotations formed through hundreds of years of discourse among scholars in many fields including theology, philosophy, law, and medicine. 

This exhibit examines changing definitions, perceptions, and imagery around intersex bodies from the sixteenth to twenty-first centuries, which echo drastically changing relationships between medicine, sex, and gender occurring during the same time span.

This exhibit was curated by Madeline C. Huh, Josiah Charles Trent History of Medicine Intern.