Review of: Kathrin Peters: Rätselbilder des Geschlechts. Körperwissen und Medialität um 1900. Zürich u.a.: diaphanes 2010.

Abstract

Based on photographical material, Kathrin Peters, expert in Art History and Cultural Studies, dedicates this profound analysis of biological-medical gender theories around 1900 to the so-called ‘ambiguous gender’. Furthermore, she explains how the notion of ‘normality and deviation’ was established following considerations of a ‘beautiful ideal’ at the end of the 19th century and how the biological-medical theories of gender differences changed. Using photographical analyses, the author shows how photographies generate varying effects in various contexts and how they are employed deliberately in scientific publications. It does, however, seem problematic that pictures, even though historical ones, of examined patients who were obviously urged to show their genitalia to the photographer are included in the publication.