Changing Sex and Bending Gender / / ed. by Shirley Ardener, Alison Shaw.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Ardener, Shirley,; Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte,; Johnson, Mark,; Littlewood, Roland,; Moore, Fiona,; Powell, Brian,; Shaw, Alison,; Tougher, Shaun,; Young, Antonia,
• HerausgeberIn: Ardener, Shirley,; Shaw, Alison,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2005]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Language: English
• Series: Social Identities ; 1
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (158 p.)

Anthropologists and historians have shown us that 'male' and 'female' are variously defined historically and cross-culturally. The contributions to this volume focus on the voluntary and involuntary, temporary or permanent transformation of gender identity. Overall, this volume provides powerful and compelling illustrations of how, across a wide range of cultures, processes of gender transformation are shaped within, and ultimately constrained by, social and political context. From medical responses to biological ambiguity, legal responses to cases brought by transsexuals, the historical role of the eunuch in Byzantium, the social transformation of gender in Northern Albania and in the Southern Philippines, to North American 'drag' shows, English pantomime and Japanese kabuki theatre, this volume offers revealing insights into the ambiguities and limitations of gender transformation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE -- 1 CHANGING SEX AND BENDING GENDER: AN INTRODUCTION -- 2 IS IT A BOY, OR A GIRL? THE CHALLENGES OF GENITAL AMBIGUITY -- 3 WHY SHOULD BIOLOGICAL SEX BE DECISIVE? TRANSSEXUALISM BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS -- 4 TWO VIEWS ON THE GENDER IDENTITY OF BYZANTINE EUNUCHS -- 5 THE THIRD SEX IN ALBANIA: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTE -- 6 LIVING LIKE MEN, LOVING LIKE WOMEN: TOMBOI IN THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES -- 7 ONE OF THE GALS WHO’S ONE OF THE GUYS: MEN, MASCULINITY AND DRAG PERFORMANCE IN NORTH AMERICA -- 8 MALE DAMES AND FEMALE BOYS: CROSS-DRESSING IN THE ENGLISH PANTOMIME -- 9 CROSS-DRESSING ON THE JAPANESE STAGE -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX