Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Book
Description
When discussing Ancient Mediterranean society, there are numerous accounts of gender transitions. However, a disproportionate number of those historical records involve individuals assigned female at birth transitioning into men. This research analyzes the origins of these transitions and how they came to be. It was found that there were patterns between some of these trans-like characters, such as divine intervention or surgery to fix a sudden issue in one’s genitals. Since women were considered the “less perfect male” in the Ancient Greco-Roman world, gender transformation could be an opportunity for these characters assigned female at birth to assume the role of the perfect sex (male). This paper provides a suggestion as to what the authors (who were common people) thought about the male gender and how it was superior to females, leading the females to have a desire for transformation to gain power and privilege.
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Recommended Citation
Zhang, Joey, "Trans-ness in Antiquity: Transgressing Gender and Definition" (2024). Research Days Posters 2024. 119.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/119