Transgenderism in pre-colonial times.

[pax_morgana]

I'm in the planning stages of a story that takes place in an Earth analogue world with the main setting being a small nation similar to pre-colonial midwestern America. The majority of the characters are of a native tribal culture, and my protagonist is, for all intents and purposes, a transgender man. His people (an as-of-yet-unnamed tribe,

Comments

[the__ivorytower]

As a kind of weird question, what about... cutting them off? I don't know if the information I've heard is simply anachronism, but I believe there were traditions (attributed to the Amazons) that would cut off one or both breasts because it got in the way of combat. If this information is correct, off they would go, though I can only imagine such would be very painful based on the potential amount of medicine available.

[the_physicist]

was something like valium available maybe? anything anti-anxiety would help a huge amount.

[beccastareyes]

I'd also be concerned about sepsis -- surgery was pretty dicey pre-germ theory and pre-antibiotics. In general, the surgeon had to think that whatever he was trying to fix had a higher risk of mortality than the surgery itself. And breast removal seems like it would be a major surgery.

[nineveh_uk]

Mastectomy could be done pre-anaesthesia and pre-sepsis. The novelist Fanny Burney wrote a detailed letter describing her experience of it (summary at http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12724 ). But it does require a fair degree of medical technology, and a lucky patient.

[clocketpatch]

When I read about the Amazons it wasn't that they removed their breast, but that they would burn the nipples off their prepubescent children to stop the breasts from developing. I don't remember where I read this, not do I have any clue if burning off the nipple would stop the breast from growing (to me that would just turn into a deformed breast).

Though, I did meet someone at summer camp when I was a teenager who had a burn from pulling a pot down on herself as a toddler. She said she was really glad that it hadn't got her nipple because the doctor told her she would've been lopsided if that had happened. Still just hearsay - you'll have to look it up to see if burning is a viable way of stopping development.