Sep 24 | “The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender before Modernity”?

September 24, 2021, 5:00pm – 6:30pm 
“The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender before Modernity”?
Speaker: Leah DeVun (Rutgers University)

This talk explores ideas and individuals who allegedly combined or crossed sex or gender categories in Europe from 200–1400 C.E.. Focusing on several efforts to categorize sex in medical and naturalist contexts, DeVun looks at how and why efforts to define “the human” so often hinged on ideas about nonbinary sex. In a moment when questions about sex, gender, and identity have become incredibly urgent, this talk casts new light on a complex and often contradictory past. It examines how premodern thinkers contributed to a system of sex and embodiment that both anticipates and challenges modern beliefs about what it means to be male, female—and human.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/7w9ahdfd to receive access to the Zoom event.

Sponsored by the Medieval Studies Certificate Program, co-sponsored by the Pearl Kibre Medieval Study, the Medieval Club of New York, Global Early Modern Studies, and the Center for the Study of Women and Society.