The Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages

• Introduction; Part I. Seeds and Pleasures: The Evolution of Learned Opinions: 1. Prelude to medieval theories and debates: Greek authorities and their Latin transformations; 2. The emergence of issues and the ordering of opinions; 3. Academic questions: female and male in scholastic medicine and natural philosophy; Part II. Sex Difference and the Construction of Gender: 4. Feminine and masculine types; 5. Sterility: the pursuit of progeny and the failure of reproductive function; 6. Is sex necessary? The problem of sexual abstinence; Conclusion.

"...presents medical and scientific views on such subjects as male and female reproductive roles, the causes of sex determination, sexual pleasure, and feminine and masculine types, as well as on two concrete problems, sterility and sexual abstinence....sets itself apart from previous scholarship in a number of ways. The author is extraordinarily sensitive to nuances and pluralities of meanings, paying close attention to rhetorical strategies that reveal underlying cultural assumptions and to questions of imagery and genre." Margaret Schleissner, Isis