Sexing the World

Explore the concept of grammatical gender in ancient Latin shaped Roman society's understanding of sex and gender. By examining the ways in which Latin speakers categorized both animate and inanimate objects as masculine, feminine, or neuter, the author shows how this system influenced Roman poetry, religion, and politics. The fluidity of grammatical gender allowed for playful and shifting gender assignments in language, but over time, these boundaries became more rigid, especially in the context of Roman divinity and the decline of the dual-sexed hermaphrodite. The book delves into the evolving relationship between language, societal norms, and the construction of gender, offering insights into how language shaped perceptions of power and identity in ancient Rome.

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