Medical references to sex between women include several on the “rediscovery of the clitoris” theme as well as pseudo-medical explanations for same-sex desire, plus some titillating orientalism. Several of the texts cited here are classical but formed part of the corpus of standard medical literature in the Renaissance.
hermaphroditism
This was a persistant concept in European history, either indicating an individual who had both male and female sexual characteristics (the Classical model) or as someone with genitalia indeterminate between male and female (most likely inspired by intersex individuals, but perhaps also by unfamiliarity with the range of normal genitalia). Hermaphroditism was often suspected or claimed in cases of apparent female homosexuality in order to resolve the relationship into heterosexuality.
LHMP entry
An anthropological look at several distinct types of non-normative gender categories/identities. Bolin examines five distinct types of gender variance that appear cross-culturally (without implying that these are the only five possible categories). The final part of the articles uses these types to consider modern Western gender paradigms, however this modern analysis only considers individuals assigned male at birth (including MTF transgender individuals as well as cross-dressers who identify as male) and therefore is less relevant to the Project.
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