Man, Women, Both, Neither: Buddhist Discourses on Normative and Queer Gensexuality
By Jose Cabezon
Dr. Cabezon received his doctorate in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is currently Professor or Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Professor Cabezon's interests include: Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhism and Popular Culture, Sexuality and Gender Studies, and Theoretical Issues in the Study of Tibet.
It is interesting that Buddhism has never considered male and female to be the only options available to human beings. What then are the options? This presentation explores some of the the ways in which the classical Buddhist texts of India and Tibet construct gender and sexual identity. Focussing on the heterogeneous category of the "neuter/queer" (pandaka, ma-ning), the lecture explores how selected Buddhist texts try to make sense of the gensexual options available to human beings.