Sexual Ambiguity: Development of Judgement and Evaluation Criteria over the Centuries

Abstract

Sexual ambiguity has always interested human beings and has taken on very different meanings over different periods according to cultural changes, moral principles and religious ethics. It has inspired beliefs, tales of mythology, exquisite works of art and impassioned verses. Later, the topic was mulled over by philosophers, naturalists and legal experts followed, in modern times, by endocrinologists, sexologists, psychologists and surgeons, although the concept of hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism and homosexuality long remained confused. The literature on the subject is therefore characterised by substantial shifts.

This chapter has been translated with permission from Kurtis Editore srl. Original publication: L’ambiguità sessuale: evoluzione nei secoli dei criteri di giudizio e valutazione, in “Il Transessualismo”, 1999, E. Belgrano, B. Fabris, C. Trombetta, ISBN 978-88-85030-33-5