The Role of Hermaphrodites in Society Essay -- Sociology Essays Resear

The Role of Hermaphrodites in Society In Ruth Gilbert’s At the Border’s of the Human, she discusses society’s interest in hermaphrodites in terms of â€Å"people’s desire to examine, scrutinize, and display objects which are alien, strange and other† (6). The anomalous and bizarre spectacle of the hermaphroditic body has drawn the focus of scientists since the early sixteenth century. Hermaphrodites have long evoked a â€Å"mixture of disgust and desire, and fear and fascination†(Gilbert 150) that has led to their position as objects of scientific scrutiny. As defined by Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, a hermaphrodite is â€Å"an individual in which reproductive organs of both sexes are present†. Besides hermaphrodites challenging society’s physical norms, they challenge and have recently changed its cultural norms as well. In ancient societies, dual-sexed beings were either â€Å"exterminated, considered to be beings of suffering, or regarded as strange phenomena† (Brisson 40). Their roles in society were nonexistent because they were viewed as â€Å"threatening deviance from the...