The amount of gender bending and ambiguity in this play is fascinating. Even though it’s all for comedic effect, I think it’s incredibly ahead of its time. Even though intersex, transvestite, and gender bending issues were brought up back then, it’s still somewhat shocking to think that a play in the 1600’s could talk about such progressive topics. Even the homoerotic undertones in the play might even be considered slightly controversial today, in fact.
In the presentation on hermaphrodites, transvestites, and androgynes in class the other day, I was a bit taken aback that the word “hermaphrodite” kept being used. The new term is intersex, and those who are of that persuasion strictly want to be referred to as such. I’m aware that it was used toward the end of the presentation when referring to modern-day terms. Out of respect for those who are intersex, however, it might have been better to preface the presentation with this piece of information and use “intersex” throughout.
