SOCIAL FUNCTION OF THE INTERSEX BODY IN OVID’S METAMORPHOSES: A PSYCHOSOCIAL ANALYSISThe term intersex refers to people whose genetic factors and/or anatomical characteristics differ from the typical male or female genital, gonadal, and chromosomal characteristics. In this study, we aimed at constructing - through art and discussions mediated by it - broader understandings less guided by patterns of binarity as the only form of human experience. Therefore, we aim to reflect on the meaning of the social function of the intersex body in art, based on Book IV of Ovid's Metamorphoses. For this study, we draw on Historical and Dialectical Materialism, Vygotsky’s Psychology of Art, and our previous academic and clinical experiences. The discussion is structured around two axes: 1) the absence of choice and external intervention in the intersex person's body and 2) the experience of the intersex person's body and its relationship with the binary. The intersex body presents itself as an objective obstacle to understandings of the human body that rely solely on a binary view. Therefore, as presented in Ovid's work, intersexuality achieves a social function that makes explicit the diversity of human experiences of corporeality. Finally, the analysis reveals a social and aesthetic functionality of the intersex body, as it allows for the materialization of contradictions inherent in existence and denounces the limitations of social classification systems that do not encompass alternative ways of being and existing in the world.
Keywords:
Intersexuality; gender; art