LGender culture and the freedom to change sex were not invented in our time at all. Already Pliny the Elderwho as a scholar and commander of the fleet sacrificed his life to his curiosity on the day of the Pompeii catastrophe, writes: «It is not a fairy tale that women turn into men».
Before that, Diodorus Siculus tells the story of Erais, daughter of Diophantus, a Macedonian who lived in Arabia. Eraide marries Samiade, and apparently everything goes well. One day, however, while her husband was travelling, Eraide fell ill, «afflicted by a strong tumescent inflammation in the lower abdomen. Since the swelling grew more and more, with the onset of a high fever, the doctors suspected that it was a cervical ulcer. But on the seventh day the surface of the tumor split and a virile member with attached testicles erupted from Eraide’s genitals.”
Eraide’s mother and two servants keep quiet about what happened. But it ends badly. The husband returns from the trip, demands to have sexual intercourse, Eraide refuses, fearing that her secret will be discovered. Samiade reports her, we go to court, where the truth emerges. The husband commits suicide out of shame. Eraide changes her name and begins her new life as a man.
Aldo Cazzullo (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Now we know that the story has a scientific basis. Zaia says that every year in Veneto about ten hermaphrodites are born (in a percentage in line with the rest of the world): children who have the genitals of both sexes; it will be up to them to establish, with the help of doctors, which gender is prevalent, whether they feel male or female.
The Veneto Region opened a sex change center years ago. “I will never need it” commented the head of Zaia’s party, Salvini. Certain. But politics must also deal with those who are different from you. And there’s really no reason to be ashamed.
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All articles by Aldo Cazzullo.
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