The Shape of Sex is a pathbreaking history of nonbinary sex,
focusing on ideas and individuals who allegedly combined or crossed
sex or gender categories from 200-1400 C.E. Ranging widely across
premodern European thought and culture, Leah DeVun reveals how and
why efforts to define "the human" so often hinged on ideas about
nonbinary sex. The Shape of Sex examines a host of
thinkers-theologians, cartographers, natural philosophers, lawyers,
poets, surgeons, and alchemists-who used ideas about nonbinary sex
as conceptual tools to order their political, cultural, and natural
worlds. DeVun reconstructs the cultural landscape navigated by
individuals whose sex or gender did not fit the binary alongside
debates about animality, sexuality, race, religion, and human
nature. The Shape of Sex charts an embrace of nonbinary sex in
early Christianity, its brutal erasure at the turn of the
thirteenth century, and a new enthusiasm for nonbinary
transformations at the dawn of the Renaissance. Along the way,
DeVun explores beliefs that Adam and Jesus were nonbinary-sexed;
images of "monstrous races" in encyclopedias, maps, and illuminated
manuscripts; justifications for violence against purportedly
nonbinary outsiders such as Jews and Muslims; and the surgical
"correction" of bodies that seemed to flout binary divisions. In a
moment when questions about sex, gender, and identity have become
incredibly urgent, The Shape of Sex casts new light on a complex
and often contradictory past. It shows how premodern thinkers
created a system of sex and embodiment that both anticipates and
challenges modern beliefs about what it means to be male,
female-and human.
General
| Imprint: |
Columbia University Press
|
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| Release date: |
May 2021 |
| First published: |
2020 |
| Authors: |
Leah DeVun
(Assistant Professor)
|
| Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 25mm (L x W x T) |
| Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
| Pages: |
336 |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-231-19551-5 |
| Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Education >
General
Promotions
|
| LSN: |
0-231-19551-6 |
| Barcode: |
9780231195515 |
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