Suchergebnisse

Draws on vedic & brahminical texts to explore the origin & development of the conception of a third sex in India. Factors that led to a widely accepted three-sex model of female, male, & napumsaka (neither feminine nor masculine) during the late vedic period are discussed. Difficulties encountered by Buddhists in trying to stick to a two-sex model are explored, along with expressions of third-sex sexuality in Jain monastic texts. Examination of the social position of the third sex in ancient India contends it was viewed as either a partially defective male, or a male who exhibited female characteristics. The normative masculine was always the standard by which other sexes & genders were measured. The ways in which different communities categorized & dealt with third-sex persons are described, noting that it was a "residual category" created to articulate the biological & behavioral gender traits of persons whose sexuality was unclear. The theoretical implications are discussed in light of interpretive problems stemming from the almost total focus on males in the Indian data. 133 References. J. Lindroth