In Captivity of the Body: Inter(sexuality) in the First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The paper focuses on the issue of intersexuality in the Czech medical discourse during the first half of the 20th century, when the term “intersex”, which is officially used today and distinct from intersexuality, did not yet exist. Intersexuality can be understood as a universal category within which doctors linked various other issues, such as hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism, and homosexuality. Doctors attempted to label the variability of the human body, but were heavily influenced by their own ideas of the “ideal” male and female body and unable to think beyond these binary categories. The sources were the novel by Emil Tréval, which deals with the issue of hermaphroditism. The second example focuses on a real case of patient A. H., who identified themself as a man, although they were born with a female biological body. Doctors labelled him as homosexual and transvestite, which we now consider incorrect from today's perspective.