Wikipedia: “Intersex in history”

new-bouncywikilogo

Wikipedia logo. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia. Public domain.

A few weeks ago, a section of the (English) Wikipedia article on intersex was moved to the new article Intersex in history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex_in_history). More precisely, on August 27 the section was moved, and substantially added to  between this day and September 5 almost exclusively by one user, who is very active in writing (and discussing) various Wikipedia articles on intersex issues. Have a look if you like:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intersex_in_history&action=history&year=2016&month=-1&tagfilter=

Before this August, the content was (only) found in the article on intersex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex#History

and, significantly, the article on homosexuality in ancient Rome:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Rome#Intersex

Both articles were predominantly concerned with ancient history on the one hand (mainly Greek and Roman) and contemporary history on the other. As a historian, I am struck how dominant the traditional sources still are when it comes to the general history of intersex. A small number of ancient Greek sculptures (extant in Roman copies) and a very small number of Roman authors (mainly Ovid and Plinius) already provide most of the material for these articles, and Foucault provides most of the rest. Indeed, the largest addition found in the new article was a section on “postclassical era” and “early modern” history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intersex_in_history&type=revision&diff=736423101&oldid=736413514

Thus, I am very pleased that the Middle Ages are now covered at all, and that some of the numerous known accounts of what we today would call intersex persons are mentioned. Let’s see how the article develops further!

Suggested citation: Christof Rolker, Wikipedia: “Intersex in history”, in Männlich-weiblich-zwischen, 15/09/2016, https://intersex.hypotheses.org/4065. Lizenz: CC BY-SA 4.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]. Letzter Aufruf: 28/09/2023.

 

Christof Rolker

Prof. Dr. Christof Rolker, Historiker an der Universität Bamberg.

More Posts - Website


Christof Rolker

Prof. Dr. Christof Rolker, Historiker an der Universität Bamberg.

Das könnte dich auch interessieren …

Schreibe einen Kommentar

Deine E-Mail-Adresse wird nicht veröffentlicht. Erforderliche Felder sind mit * markiert

Diese Website verwendet Akismet, um Spam zu reduzieren. Erfahre mehr darüber, wie deine Kommentardaten verarbeitet werden.

Suche in OpenEdition Search

Sie werden weitergeleitet zur OpenEdition Search