Japan's pre-modern images of intersexuality

This research is about the untold history of intersexuality during a time when androgyny in juvenile boys was desirable and men performed female roles on stage. Moreover, it introduces the role of the body in the story about gender ambiguity in pre-modern Japan. Until now, studies on the history of gender and sexuality have focused on the role of culture in sex determination. However, this study proposes that biology was equally important. Through a critical analysis of visual material produced during Japan's pre- modern times, the intersexed character may be revealed as an essential figure for understanding the construction of gender, sex and sexuality in historical and contemporary times. In the Heian-period (794-1185), the intersexed character was presented as an absurd sexual deviant in the Yamai no Shōshi. The Genroku-period (1688- 1704) depicted intersexuality as a female deficiency in the work Kōshoku Kinmō-zui by Yoshida Hanbei, which was also reproduced around one and a...Show moreThis research is about the untold history of intersexuality during a time when androgyny in juvenile boys was desirable and men performed female roles on stage. Moreover, it introduces the role of the body in the story about gender ambiguity in pre-modern Japan. Until now, studies on the history of gender and sexuality have focused on the role of culture in sex determination. However, this study proposes that biology was equally important. Through a critical analysis of visual material produced during Japan's pre- modern times, the intersexed character may be revealed as an essential figure for understanding the construction of gender, sex and sexuality in historical and contemporary times. In the Heian-period (794-1185), the intersexed character was presented as an absurd sexual deviant in the Yamai no Shōshi. The Genroku-period (1688- 1704) depicted intersexuality as a female deficiency in the work Kōshoku Kinmō-zui by Yoshida Hanbei, which was also reproduced around one and a half century later in Ryōsuitei Tanekiyo's Kaiin Suikōden Sho-hen. Towards the end of the Edo-perdiod (1800-1868) more graphic works of intersexed bodies appeared. Keisai Eisen's Makura Bunko invoked a gaze of shameless fascination and pity, whereas Utagawa Kunitora's Otsumori Sakazuki put intersexuality into the realm of erotic fantasy. Ultimately, this research asks the question: What do early images of intersexuality reveal about attitudes towards gender, sex and sexuality in pre-modern Japan? The answer to this question reveals how intersexed bodies, in various periods of time, were to be looked at with humour, curiosity, pity and sexual desire.Show less

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Japan's pre-modern images of intersexuality