Sex, Love, and Gender Identity in Classical Japan

I wrote a review, on the wonderful yuri website Okazu, of Rosette Willig's translation of the Torikaebaya Monogatari, published under the title "The Changelings." The Changelings is the story of male and female twins who each identify as the opposite gender and the trials they experience attempting to express that gender in courtly life in classical Japan. It is a tragedy. It can be disturbing. There are also some beautiful passages as well as moments of insight about trans life in classical Japan. There are also haunting realities that some things, the fear of persecution and the risk of assault, have not really changed in hundreds of years. Head on over to Okazu to read my review in full.

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