-_ Vintage Books Ealtion, November 2010 CONTENTS Intraduction copyright © 1980 by Mickel Foucault ——— Tiumlaton of Introduction, Mem, Dosir ‘copyright © 180 by Richard McDougall ‘Tiumdaton of “Ein Skandalser Fall copyright © 1980 by Render Hout, Ie. Al ight resrsed, Published in the United States by Vintage Books, division of Random House, In, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in France as Hercule Barbin dite Alexina B. by Gallia, Copsright © 1978 by Eltions Gallimard, Published in hardcover in the United Stats by Pantheon Books MY MEMOIRS + 3 lsision of Random House, Inc, New York. Introduction + it ‘Vintage and colophon ate registered trademarks of and Hose THE DOSSIER + 119 ‘The Library of Congress has cataloged the Pantheo AimrcraDehrrenad Hacer! 120 ‘aon flows Reports ms barn, Hering 1 = : Herculine Barbin: being the recently discovered ThecBre ws sends tech crise Proeh ermapes Documents 6 ‘Translation of Hercuine Haein, dite Alesina 1. Hermaphroditism Biography. 2 Barbin, Herculine, 1838 “A SCANDAL AT THE CONVENT” eBipasrrs 6166 5u00094 1 79-s804 ‘Vintage ISBN: 978-0-594-73862-8 by Oscar Panizza + 155 sro: vntagebockscom A story based on the life of Hercule Barbin Printed in the United Sates of America CONT 65,Sa INTRODUCTION Do we truly need a true sex? With a persistence that borders fon stubbornness, modern Western societies have answered in the affirmative. They have obstinately brought into play this question of a “true ex” in an order of things where one right have imagined that all that counted was the reality of the body and the intensity ofits pleasures. For a long time, however, sch a demand was not made, 2 i proven by the history of the status which medicine and Jaw have granted to hermaphrodite Indeed it was a very long time before the postulate that a hermaphrodite must have a sex—a single, a true sex—was formulated. For cen- tries, it was quite simply agreed that hermaphrodites had two. Were they terrorinspiring monsters, calling for legal tortures? In fact, things were much more complicate. Its true that there is evidence of a number of executions, both in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. But there is also an abundance of court decisions of a completely different ‘ype: In the Middle Ages, the rules of both canon and civil Jaw were very clear on this point: the designation “hermaph- rodite” was given to those in whom the two sexes were juxtaposed, in proportions that might be variable. In these cases, it was the role of the father or the godfather (thus of those who “named” the child) to determine at the time of baptism which sex was going to be retained. If necessary,