A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Edo-Period Prints and Paintings (1600-1868)

Gender relations were complex in Edo-period Japan (1603-1868). Wakashu, male youths, were desired by men and women, constituting a third gender with their androgynous appearance and variable sexuality. For the first time outside Japan, A Third Gender examines the fascination with wakashu in Edo-period culture and their visual representation in art, demonstrating how they destabilize the conventionally held model of gender binarism.