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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.

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LHMP entry

LHMP #504 Wagner 2013 Pathological Bodies

This book as a whole looks at connections between medical theories and political culture, in 18-19th century Britain and France. Only one chapter has any relevance to the Project and this summary will be confined to that material.

Chapter 1: The Case of Marie Antoinette: Revolutionary Politics and the Biologically Suspect Woman

Like a number of other publications, this focuses on the political propaganda that depicted Marie Antoinette as an extreme sexual deviant along several axes, with a special interest in tying those themes to deviant anatomy.

LHMP #503 Park 1997 The Rediscovery of the Clitoris

This article takes a deep dive into French medical literature of the late 16th and early 17th century discussing the clitoris and developing mythology about it that would linger for centuries. One key element of this discourse was a reliance on textual material, despite many of the authors being surgeons.

LHMP #452 Braunschneider 1999 The Macroclitoride, the Tribade, and the Woman

[Content note: This article and the text it discusses use the word “hermaphrodite” in contexts where it may be applied to people with ambiguous genitalia, as well as applied to people with queer sexuality. My use of the word in discussing the article is not endorsement of these uses and I recognize that this word is considered offensive (as well as inaccurate) by many.]

LHMP #450e Turton 2024 Before the Word Was Queer Chapter 4 – Dissecting Matter

This chapter compares the dearth of entries for f/f sexuality in general dictionaries in the 1750-1850 period with the wealth of discussion on those topics in medical dictionaries. The appearance of medical dictionaries as a genre aligned with an explosion of vernacular publishing in the health field in the 16-17th centuries. These were aimed not only at non-specialists, but at health workers outside the academic elite—people who didn’t have access to Latin literature. The publishing establishment operated as gatekeepers in terms of what material got published and how it was presented.

LHMP #380n Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

{The following material appears in the longer edition only.}

L'HERMAPHRODITE,

OU

LETTRE

D'ANNE GRANDJEAN

A FRANÇOISE LAMBERT SA FEMME,

Nec duo sunt, sed forma duplex; nec femina dici,

Nec puer ut possit, nec utrumque & utrumque videtur.

Ovid. Metam.

 

THE HERMAPHRODITE,

OR

LETTER

FROM ANNE GRANDJEAN

TO FRANÇOISE LAMBERT ZIR WIFE,

LHMP #380m Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

NOTA. Par Arrêt rendu en la Chambre de la Tournelle du Parlement de Paris, le 10 Janvier 1765, Monsieur le Procureur Général a été reçu appellant comme d'abus de la célébration du mariage d'Anne Grandjean, & ce mariage à été déclaré abusif; la Sentence de la Sénéchaussée de Lyon, sur l'accusation en profanation de Sacrement, a été infirmée, & l’Accusé a été mis hors de Cour; il lui a néanmoins été enjoint de prendre les habits de femme; avec défenses de hanter Françoise Lambert, & autres personnes du même sexe.

LHMP #380l Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

Mais nous avons annoncé des preuves d'un autre genre.

But we have announced evidence of another kind.

LHMP #380k Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

TROISIEME OBJET

Bonne foi de l'Accusé.

THIRD ISSUE

Good faith of the accused.

Il faut commencer par partir d'un point fixe; c'est que la mauvaise foi ne se présume pas, que la Justice suppose toujours l'innocence, & que pour condamner; il faut avoir contre l'Accusé des preuves de conviction.

LHMP #380j Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

On l'accuse d'avoir profané le Sacrement de mariage. Il ne l'a pas profané, s'il étoit de bonne foi: c'est le second objet que nous nous étions proposé de démontrer.

Zie is accused of having profaned the Sacrament of Marriage. He did not profane it, if he was in good faith: this is the second point we set out to demonstrate.

SECOND OBJECT

Point de profanation si l'Accusé étoit dans la bonne foi.

SECOND ISSUE

No profanation if the accused was in good faith.

LHMP #380i Vermeil 1765 Mémoire pour Anne Grandjean

Il est donc important ici de le faire connoître dans le détail; mais comme cette description peut tomber entre les mains de personnes dont nous craindrions d'alarmer la pudeur, nous croyons par délicatesse devoir nous servir d'une langue moins familiere.

It is thus important here to make it known in detail; but as this description can fall into the hands of people whose modesty we would fear to alarm, we believe by delicacy to have to use a less familiar language.

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