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Androgyny
(2,123 words)

Androgyny (“having the nature of both male and female”, from Greek anḗr: ‘man’; gynḗ: ‘woman’), whether in the form of the hermaphrodite or androgyne (the two were often used synonymously in the Middle Ages and early modern period) is one of the “key unifying myths of the 16th and 17th centuries” (Hocke). Androgyny subverted early modern endeavors to align social practice and nature (a…

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Marti, Stephan Bernard, “Androgyny”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_016841>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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