Bounds of diversity: queer zoology in Europe from Aristotle to John Hunter

Zoological narratives of intersexualities ('hermaphroditism'), transformations of sex and same-sex sexual behaviours have long played significant roles in shaping ideas about sex more generally, for good and for bad. Eclectic references to sex-variant animals in classical and medieval texts traverse nebulous boundaries between fact and fantasy. Only slowly through the early modern era did observation supersede superstition. The discovery by English naturalist John Ray in 1660, that all slugs and snails were dual-sexed, situated hermaphroditism as an integral concern of naturalists as never before. Through the 1770s and 1780s, Scottish anatomist John Hunter inaugurated a new era in the medico-scientific study of sex, establishing intersexualities and transformations of sex as primary means of theorizing sex differences more broadly but delineating an overly sharp division between 'natural' and 'unnatural' hermaphrodites. He even suggested, albeit briefly, how the division of sexes from hermaphrodite origins might have happened biologically, a question that was subsequently pursued by evolutionists including Erasmus Darwin and Charles Darwin. In contrast, zoological descriptions of same-sex sexual behaviours were published only rarely prior to the 19(th) century, a prevailing misunderstanding that animals did not engage in such behaviours playing important roles in shaping 'natural law' and Christian theology.

Automated summary

Zoological narratives about hermaphroditism, sex transformations, and same-sex sexual behaviors have played significant roles in shaping ideas about sex. In the past, there were misconceptions and superstitions surrounding these topics, but observation and scientific study gradually replaced them. The study of hermaphroditism became a concern for naturalists after John Ray's discovery in 1660, while the understanding of same-sex sexual behaviors among animals was limited until the 19th century.