Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History [Paperback]

Gilbert Herdt (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 1996

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. 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 cover a wide range of times and cultures, starting in the Byzantine Empire and moving eclectically forward, with a special focus on the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. The anthropological studies include the Native American berdache, the Indian Hijras caste, hermaphrodites in Melanesia, third genders in Indonesia and the Balkans, and transsexuals in America.Third Sex, Third Gender emphasizes desires on the margins of society, and pleasures and bodies outside the assumed arenas of social reproduction. It opens up the possibility of understanding in new ways how, for example, Byzantine palace eunuchs and the Hijras of India met the criteria of special social roles that necessitated self-castration, and how heartfelt yet forbidden desires were expressed among seventeenth-century Dutch Sodomites, the Mollys of eighteenth-century England, and the Intermediate Sex or so-called hermaphrodite-homosexual of nineteenth-century Europe and America.Gilbert Herdt is Professor of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books, including Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia, Gay and Lesbian Youth, and Intimate Communications.The essays: Introduction, Gilbert Herdt. Living in the Shadows: Eunuchs and Gender in Byzantium, Kathryn M. Ringrose. London's Sapphists: From Three Sexes to Four Genders in the Making of Modern Culture, Randolph Trumbach. Sodomy and the Pursuit of the Third Sex in Early Modern Europe, Theo van der Meer. Woman Becomes Man in the Balkans, Rene Gremaux. A Female Soul in a Male Body: Sexual Inversion as Gender Inversion in Nineteenth Century Sexology, Gert Hekma. The Hijras: An Alternative Sex and Gender Role in India, Serna Nanda. How to Become a Berdache: Toward A Unified Analysis of Gender Diversity, Will Roscoe. The., Third Sex Among the Sambia, Gilbert Herdt. The Waria of Indonesia: A Traditional Third Gender Role, Robert Oostvogels. Transcending and Transgendering. Male to Female Transsexuals in the United States, Anne Bolin. Historical and Cultural Reconsideration of the Mabu Third Gender in Tahitia, Niko Besnier.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gilbert Herdt is Professor of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books, including Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia, Gay and Lesbian Youth,and Intimate Communications.

Product Details

• Paperback: 614 pages
• Publisher: Zone (June 6, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942299825
• ISBN-13: 978-0942299823
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, July 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History (Paperback)

Gil Herdt is one person who can certainly be trusted to compile a stellar collection of articles about third sexes/genders in a historical and cross-cultural context. It includes a chapter about the Hijras of India by Serena Nanda, along with many photographs. This book rounds out any homosexuality study you may be doing. It is very well done. I enjoyed reading the articles that I did.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, February 7, 2010

By 

L. Rouse - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History (Paperback)

The seller sent this promptly and it came in excellent condition just as it was described. Thank you. I would definitely buy from this seller again.

6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What does third sex really mean ?, April 13, 2000

By 

SEBASTIANVS "libra64" (TOKYO Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History (Hardcover)

It is very interesting to read this kind of book, especially about eunuchs in Byzantion. However I think it is easier to compile such an omnibus-styled collective volume. I prefer monographic coherent book written by one author , e.g. John Boswell's " Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality " et "Same-Sex Union " , Eva Cantarella's "La bisessualita nel mondo antico" , Bernard Sergent's "L'homosexualite dans la mythologie grecque" or so. This book contains various "Third Sex" like stereotyped berdaches in America, hijuras in India, transvestists in Europe etc.---- Each article is interesting of course. Although in Japan our ancestors never introduced eunuch-system from China , we have many books exclusively concentrated on eunuchus.So I'd like to read special works focused on Greco-Roman & Byzantine eunuchs. If somebody knows these kinds of subject series,please kindly tell me the titles.