LHMP #581b DeVun 2020 The Shape of Sex Chapter 1

Christian theology of late antiquity promoted the idea of “primal androgyny,” that is, that human beings were created as androgynous beings (Adam before the separation of Eve) and that this non-binary state was the ideal state for humanity.

This concept fell from popularity around the 12-13th centuries, as androgyny became conflated with dual-bodied hermaphroditism and thus with monstrosity.

The chapter dives into scriptural interpretation of the two creation stories—one in which God created humans “male and female” in his own image, and the other hierarchical version in which man (Adam) was created first, with woman created from him.

One Jewish tradition viewed Adam as a fused, two-bodied creature, half male, half female (like the dual-bodied creatures in the Symposium) that was then divided into two beings.

This “primal androgyny” did not encompass gender equality. The conversion of the primal “both male and female” being into differentiated sexes produced a sexual hierarchy that would not be erased until the primal state was returned at the end of time. Then humanity would regain an angelic androgyny, neither male nor female.

These ideas were connected to the idea of sex and procreation as an unfortunate corrupted necessity after the Fall. In the mean time, androgyny could be considered an unobtainable ideal, to be approximated by celibacy.

Augustine of Hippo (4-5th c) was an early rejector of the idea of primal androgyny. He made no distinction between androgynes and hermaphrodites, associating both with ambiguous genitals due to an “excess” of sex rather than its absence. But it took much longer for Augustine’s views to take general hold. With the “12th century renaissance” in scholarly argumentation, Augustine’s views were expanded, arguing that two distinct sexes existed at the start of creation, even when Eve was still encompassed within Adam’s body.

The specter of dual-sexed hermaphrodites who could perform sex acts either as male or female became prominent in the 13th century. Such (hypothetical) beings implied sodomy. To address this, church law required intersex persons to adhere to one permanent gender role, according to how they were able to perform sexually. The concept of sodomy at this time had more to do with transgressing fixed gender roles than it had to do with specific sex acts.

In contrast to prior ideas about the general resurrection at the end times returning all to a state of angelic androgyny, now the position was that sex was an essential attribute that would be retained at resurrection, but that “defects” such as disability, racial difference, and intersexuality would be “corrected.”