|
变异的性行为
|
|
性少数: 7.
易性癖者
|
|
历史记载
|
|
 |
|
提瑞西阿斯，她作为女人，再一次碰到了两条交配的蛇。在痛打了它们之后，他变回成男人。(16世纪木刻局部细节)
|
|
Tiresias, as a woman, once again encounters two mating snakes. After hitting them with his stick, he is changed back into a man. (Detail of a 16th-century woodcut). |
|
据我们所知，易性癖在世界上所有的地区都始终是存在的。当然，现代科学术语那时尚闻所未闻，不过，人们作为女性或男性的自我认同与生理性别相矛盾决不是什么新鲜事儿。甚至，“变性（sex
changes）”已经让人类痴迷了很久。许多文化中的神话和传说告诉我们关于女人转变成男人和男人转变成女人的故事，一些变性是暂时的转变，另一些则是永久的转变。有时，这种转变是由于神的干预或某种巫术的结果。一些古代传说也涉及到双性或双性别人物，或称为“第三性”。这些传说也有偶尔或习惯性的换穿异性服饰的例子。简而言之，似乎今天我们所知道的各种各样模式的性别认同不一致的情况都有悠久的历史。首要的是对待这样的性别认同不一致，不同的文化历史有不同的态度——从高度的尊重到容忍再到残忍地压制，不一而足。
西方众所周知的“著名的”例子是传说中的古希腊预言家提瑞西阿斯（Tiresias），他“从内到外”都通晓男女两性的一切。当他还是一名青年男子时，他用一根手杖打散了两条正在交配的蛇，并因此而被转变成女人。数年之后，他又见到了这两条蛇，而且再一次痛打了它们，不过现在却被变回成了男人。然后，众神之王宙斯和他的妻子赫拉问提瑞西阿斯，在性交中，作为男人还是作为女人，谁体验到了最大的快乐？当他回答“作为女人”时，被激怒的赫拉打瞎了他，不过，为了赔偿他，宙斯赐予了他做出预言的能力。
古代社会并没有对各种类型的跨性别作出我们现代这样的区分，但是，总体上看，那时对于性别认同不一致是颇为容忍的。
|
|
Variations in Sexual Behavior
|
|
Sexual Minorities: 7. Transsexuals
|
|
Historical Notes
|
As far as we know, transsexualism has always existed in all parts of the world. Of course, the modern scientific term was unknown, but there is nothing new about people self-identifying as female or male in contradiction to their physical sex. Indeed, “sex changes” have fascinated mankind for a very long time. Myths and legends in many cultures tell us about women turning into men and men turning into women, in some cases temporarily, in others permanently. Sometimes this is attributed to divine intervention or to some magic. Some ancient tales also involve a double-sexed or double-gendered figure or a “third sex”. They also provide examples of occasional or habitual cross-dressing. In short, it seems that all the various forms of gender non-conformity that we know today have a long history. It is, above all, a history of different cultural attitudes toward such non-conformity - from high esteem to tolerance to merciless oppression.
A well-known Western “classical “example is that of the legendary ancient Greek seer
Tiresias, who knew both sexes “from the inside”. As a young man, he had hit two mating snakes with a stick and was thereupon transformed into a woman. After seven years, he saw the snakes again and hit them again, but was now changed back into a man. The supreme god Zeus and his wife Hera then asked him who experienced the greatest pleasure during sexual intercourse - the male or the female. When he answered: “The female”, the enraged Hera struck him blind, but, in compensation, Zeus gave him the gift of prophesy.
The ancient world did not make our modern distinctions between the various types of transgenderism, but, on the whole, it was rather tolerant of gender non-conformity. |
