Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite is a 1980 English-language translation of Herculine Barbin's nineteenth-century memoirs, which were originally written in French. The book contains an introduction by Michel Foucault, which only appears in the English-language translation of the memoirs.[1] Foucault discovered Barbin's memoirs during his research about hermaphroditism for The History of Sexuality.[2]
Herculine Barbin was an intersex woman born in 1838. Unlawfully in love with another woman,[3] she was forced to live as a man because of a judge's orders, after a doctor found her to be intersex, and her homosexual behaviors were brought forth.[4] Upon this legal change of her sex, Barbin's name was also changed, and she was referred as either Camille or Abel.[5] In 1868, Barbin committed suicide due to her poverty, gender and sexuality troubles and the false persona she was forced to maintain.[4]
Foucault explained in his introduction that the objective of social institutions was to restrict "the free choice of indeterminate individuals".[6] He noted that the legal efforts in the 1860s and 1870s to control gender identity occurred despite centuries of comparative acceptance of hermaphroditism.[7] During the Middle Ages, Foucault wrote, hermaphrodites were viewed as people who had an amalgamation of masculine and feminine traits. When they reached adulthood, hermaphrodites in the Middle Ages were allowed to decide whether they wanted to be male or female.[8] However, this procedure was abandoned in later times, when scientists decided that each person only had one real gender. When a person demonstrated the physical or mental traits of the opposite sex, such aberrations were deemed random or inconsequential.[8] Scholars Elizabeth A. Meese and Alice Parker noted that the memoir's lessons are applicable to the contemporary world in that the lack of a clear gender identity transgresses the truth.[9]
Responses
In his critical introduction, Foucault calls Barbin's pre-masculine upbringing a "happy limbo of non-identity" (xiii). Judith Butler, in their book Gender Trouble, takes this as an opportunity to read Foucault against himself, especially in History of Sexuality, Volume I. They call Foucault's introduction a "romanticized appropriation" of Barbin's experience; rather, Butler understands Barbin's upbringing not as an intersex body exposing and refuting the regulative strategies of sexual categorization (à la Foucault) but as an example of how the law maintains an "'outside' within itself". They argue that Barbin's sexual disposition—"one of ambivalence from the outset"—represents a recapitulation of the ambivalence inherent within the religious law that produces her. Specifically, Butler cites the "institutional injunction to pursue the love of the various 'sisters' and 'mothers' of the extended convent family and the absolute prohibition against carrying that love too far".
Intersex scholar Morgan Holmes states that Barbin's own writings showed that she saw herself as an "exceptional female", but female nonetheless.[10]
The collection of memoirs inspired Jeffrey Eugenides to write Middlesex. Believing that the memoir evaded discussion about intersex individuals' anatomy and emotions, Eugenides concluded that he would "write the story that I wasn't getting from the memoir".[11]
Daileader, Philip, ed. (2010). French Historians 1900-2000: New Historical Writing in Twentieth-Century France. Whalen, Philip. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-4051-9867-7.
van den Wijngaard, Marianne (1997). Reinventing the Sexes: The Biomedical Construction of Femininity and Masculinity. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-33250-8.
January 31, 2023
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Herculine Barbin Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth century French Hermaphrodite is a 1980 English language translation of Herculine Barbin s nineteenth century memoirs which were originally written in French The book contains an introduction by Michel Foucault which only appears in the English language translation of the memoirs 1 Foucault discovered Barbin s memoirs during his research about hermaphroditism for The History of Sexuality 2 Herculine BarbinCoverAuthorsHerculine BarbinMichel FoucaultTranslatorRichard McDougallCountryFranceLanguageEnglish FrenchPublisherPantheon BooksPublication dateJune 12 1980Media typePrintPages199 Pantheon Books paperback ISBN978 0 394 73862 8OCLC5800446Dewey Decimal616 69400924 Contents 1 Background 2 Responses 3 Commemoration 4 References 5 BibliographyBackground EditMain article Herculine Barbin Herculine Barbin was an intersex woman born in 1838 Unlawfully in love with another woman 3 she was forced to live as a man because of a judge s orders after a doctor found her to be intersex and her homosexual behaviors were brought forth 4 Upon this legal change of her sex Barbin s name was also changed and she was referred as either Camille or Abel 5 In 1868 Barbin committed suicide due to her poverty gender and sexuality troubles and the false persona she was forced to maintain 4 Foucault explained in his introduction that the objective of social institutions was to restrict the free choice of indeterminate individuals 6 He noted that the legal efforts in the 1860s and 1870s to control gender identity occurred despite centuries of comparative acceptance of hermaphroditism 7 During the Middle Ages Foucault wrote hermaphrodites were viewed as people who had an amalgamation of masculine and feminine traits When they reached adulthood hermaphrodites in the Middle Ages were allowed to decide whether they wanted to be male or female 8 However this procedure was abandoned in later times when scientists decided that each person only had one real gender When a person demonstrated the physical or mental traits of the opposite sex such aberrations were deemed random or inconsequential 8 Scholars Elizabeth A Meese and Alice Parker noted that the memoir s lessons are applicable to the contemporary world in that the lack of a clear gender identity transgresses the truth 9 Responses EditIn his critical introduction Foucault calls Barbin s pre masculine upbringing a happy limbo of non identity xiii Judith Butler in their book Gender Trouble takes this as an opportunity to read Foucault against himself especially in History of Sexuality Volume I They call Foucault s introduction a romanticized appropriation of Barbin s experience rather Butler understands Barbin s upbringing not as an intersex body exposing and refuting the regulative strategies of sexual categorization a la Foucault but as an example of how the law maintains an outside within itself They argue that Barbin s sexual disposition one of ambivalence from the outset represents a recapitulation of the ambivalence inherent within the religious law that produces her Specifically Butler cites the institutional injunction to pursue the love of the various sisters and mothers of the extended convent family and the absolute prohibition against carrying that love too far Intersex scholar Morgan Holmes states that Barbin s own writings showed that she saw herself as an exceptional female but female nonetheless 10 The collection of memoirs inspired Jeffrey Eugenides to write Middlesex Believing that the memoir evaded discussion about intersex individuals anatomy and emotions Eugenides concluded that he would write the story that I wasn t getting from the memoir 11 Commemoration EditThe birthday of Herculine Barbin is marked in Intersex Day of Remembrance on 8 November References Edit Wilson 1996 p 52 Brown Frederick 1980 10 09 The Heroic Hermaphrodite The New York Review of Books Archived from the original on 2011 06 06 Retrieved 2010 05 07 Meese amp Parker 1989 p 5 a b Daileader amp Whalen 2010 p 264 van den Wijngaard 1997 p 3 Barbin amp Foucault 1980 p viii Hart 1989 p 279 a b Oksala 2005 pp 115 116 Meese amp Parker 1989 p 6 Holmes Morgan July 2004 Locating Third Sexes PDF Transformations Journal Regions of Sexuality 8 ISSN 1444 3775 Goldstein Bill 2003 01 01 A Novelist Goes Far Afield but Winds Up Back Home Again The New York Times Archived from the original on 2015 12 22 Retrieved 2010 02 01 Bibliography EditBarbin Herculine Foucault Michel 1980 Herculine Barbin Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth century French Hermaphrodite New York Pantheon Books ISBN 0 394 73862 4 Daileader Philip ed 2010 French Historians 1900 2000 New Historical Writing in Twentieth Century France Whalen Philip Chichester John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 1 4051 9867 7 Lynda Hart 1989 Making a Spectacle Feminist Essays on Contemporary Women s Theatre Ann Arbor MI University of Michigan Press ISBN 0 472 06389 8 Meese Elizabeth A Parker Alice 1989 The Difference Within Feminism and Critical Theory Amsterdam John Benjamins Publishing Company ISBN 1 55619 042 5 Oksala Johanna 2005 Foucault on Freedom Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 84779 6 Wilson Emma 1996 Sexuality and the Reading Encounter Identity and Desire in Proust Duras Tournier and Cixous Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 815885 8 van den Wijngaard Marianne 1997 Reinventing the Sexes The Biomedical Construction of Femininity and Masculinity Bloomington IN Indiana University Press ISBN 0 253 33250 8 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Herculine Barbin memoir amp oldid 1099510397, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
