For the first of our LGBT History Month 2016 events, Jana and Jen of the Rethinking Sexology project joined Dr Debbie Challis at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology to discuss ideas about gender identity across history. Debbie spoke on depictions of the Egyptian pharaohs Hatshepshut and Akhenaten in the ancient world and how their allegedly ‘transgressive’ identities have been interpreted. Jana and Jen discussed how sexual scientists and other writers in the early twentieth century developed theories about gender and especially early notions of trans identities – ideas that still shape our modern understanding today. We considered how these ideas drew upon the past and specifically Egypt and the figures of Hatshepshut and Akhenaten.

Read a blog post by Dr Jen Grove on Notchesblog.com inspired by this event.