How the Medical, Legal, and Religious Systems Shaped Gender for Hermaphrodites and Gender Nonconformists to Suppress Trans Presence and Enforce Heterosexuality

Cox, Madeline

How the Medical, Legal, and Religious Systems Shaped Gender for Hermaphrodites and Gender Nonconformists to Suppress Trans Presence and Enforce Heterosexuality

dc.contributor.advisor	Kates, Susan
dc.contributor.author	Cox, Madeline
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Keresztesi, Rita
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Endres, William
dc.date.accessioned	2024-05-29T13:37:58Z
dc.date.available	2024-05-29T13:37:58Z
dc.date.issued	2024-05-10
dc.date.manuscript	2024-04-03
dc.description.abstract	Although sexuality is widely accepted across the United States, being transgender or a gender nonconformist is not. Those across the LGBTQ+ spectrum are not on equal footing and many wonder why. Members of the transgender community are often subject to immense backlash, both socially and systemically. There are hundreds of anti-trans laws active in the United States, ranging from topics such as healthcare to sports. Many believe that being transgender is a new trend caused by the passing of gay marriage. However, this is far from the truth. Although being transgender is not a new trend, it is a historically quieted one. This paper seeks to look at the ways that the medical, legal, religious systems suppressed the transgender presence in order to enforce heterosexuality. To examine this, the memoirs of Herculine Barbin, and 18the century hermaphrodite are used. Other works used include Michel Foucualt’s History of Sexuality Vol. 1 and Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, and Pleasure and Efficacy by Grace Lavery. Through the analysis of these works, I come to the conclusion that the medical, legal, and religious systems, represented through their individual actors, worked in conjunction with one another for mutual advantage in order to suppress the transgender presence for the enforcement of heterosexuality. I also conclude that these systems are still operative today in similar ways. The conclusions of this study show that being transgender is not a new trend, but rather one that has been historically suppressed.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/340405
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Gender Studies.	en_US
dc.subject	Language, Rhetoric and Composition.	en_US
dc.subject	LGBT	en_US
dc.subject	Transgender	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Arts	en_US
dc.title	How the Medical, Legal, and Religious Systems Shaped Gender for Hermaphrodites and Gender Nonconformists to Suppress Trans Presence and Enforce Heterosexuality	en_US
ou.group	Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences::Department of English	en_US