Changing Sex and Bending Gender

Alison Shaw is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, Department of Public Health. Her research interests include medical anthropology, ethnicity, kinship and social aspects of genetics. Her publications include Kinship and Continuity: Pakistani families in Britain (Harwood/Routledge 2000); A Pakistani Community in Britain (Oxford: Blackwell 1888) and Get by in Hindi and Urdu (1989 BBC Books).

• List of illustrationsPrefaceShirley ArdenerChapter 1. Changing sex and bending gender: an introduction Alison ShawDefining sex and genderChanging bodily sexLong-term gender transformationsWomen in transformed gender rolesWomen disguised as menWomen with ‘manly’ attributes, and the issue of sexualityMen in transformed gender rolesTemporary gender transformationsWomen playing men on the stageMen playing women on the stageConclusionChapter 2. Is it a boy, or a girl? The challenges of genital ambiguity Alison ShawIntersex conditionsReactions to intersex birthsBotched pots, unnatural horrors and supernatural blessings‘Correcting’ intersex infantsLessons from the Dominican RepublicConclusions and implicationsChapter 3. Why should biological sex be decisive? Transsexualism before the European Court of Human Rights Marie-Bénédicte DembourThe ConventionThe casesTypical factsThe Court’s reasoning in transsexual casesJudge Martens’ critique of ‘Biological Sex is Decisive’A false positiveThe denial of legal fatherhoodA tightening majorityVictory at lastThe ‘normalisation’ of transsexual human rights issuesConclusionChapter 4. Two views on the gender identity of Byzantine eunuchsShaun TougherEunuchsEunuchs in ByzantiumThe Image of eunuchsThe texts: Claudian and TheophylactThe negative view: Claudian’s In Eutropium (I and II)The positive answer: Theophylact’s In Defence of EunuchsA comparisonConclusionChapter 5. The third sex in Albania: an ethnographic noteRoland Littlewood and Antonia YoungThe historical setting‘A woman is a sack made to endure’: gender and the customary lawSworn virginsThree into twoChapter 6. Living like men, loving like women: tomboi in the Southern PhilippinesMark JohnsonThe localityEthnographic encounters with tomboi in the Southern PhilippinesLiving ‘like men’Loving ‘like women’‘Women who do bad things’: hegemonic masculinity and compulsory heterogender/sexualityThe question of tomboi likeness and beingChapter 7. One of the gals who’s one of the guys: men, masculinity and drag performance in North America Fiona MooreDrag as an expression of masculinityDragged up on deck: the settingMore man than you’ll ever be: drag as gay male art formRocky Horror? Straight men and dragPassing women: the views of performersMasculinity, sexuality and liminality: discussion and conclusionChapter 8. Male dames and female boys: cross-dressing in the English pantomimeShirley ArdenerEnglish vulgar comedyA potted history of pantomimeStory linesDamesDress and make-upWomen, drag and female impersonatorsPrincipal BoysCommentaryChapter 9. Cross-dressing on the Japanese stageBrian PowellFemale actorsMale actorsTwo contrasting onnagataTakarazukaEmergence of the actress in Japanese theatre cultureChange and changelessnessNotes on contributorsIndex

“Overall, the book is a marvellous example of cross-discipline contributions to one topical subject - sex and gender - and anyone curious, or concerned, about historical and cultural constructions of sex and gender should pick it up. As the first in the Social Identities Series, this reviewer will be interested in future volumes and contributions to the subject.” • Third Space: A Journal of Feminist & Film Culture“…texts such as Changing Sex and Bending Gender are so necessary. An engaging and interesting text, this book should appeal to a wide audience – from those now to the topic to those who have explored this gendered path before.” • Anthropological Forum