Third Sex, Third Gender

In the 1990s, questions of sex roles and individual identity have taken a central position in intellectual debates. These eleven essays in history and anthropology offer a novel perspective on these debates by questioning the place of sexual dimorphism in culture and history. More... They propose a new role for the study of alternative sex and gender systems in cultural science, as a means of critiquing thinking that privileges standard male/female gender distinctions and rejects the natural basis of other forms of sexuality. The essays: Introduction Gilbert Herdt. Living in the Shadows: Eunuchs and Gender in Byzantium Kathryn Ringrose. London´s Sapphists: From Three Sexes to Four Genders in the Making of Modern Culture Randolph Trumbach. Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Third Sex in the Early Modern Period Theo van der Meer. A Female Soul in a Male Body Gert Hekma. Woman Becomes Man in the Balkans Rene Gremaux. Polynesian Gender Liminality Through Time and Space Niko Besnier. How to Become a Berdache: Toward a Unified Analysis of Gender Diversity Will Roscoe. Hijras: An Alternative Sex and Gender Role in India Serena Nanda. Mistaken Sex: Culture, Biology and the Third Sex in New Guinea Gilbert Herdt. Transcending and Transgendering: Male-to-Female Transsexuals, Dichotomy and Diversity Anne Bolin.