Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the European Conquest of the AmericasThis highly original book is the first study of American sexuality at the time of the Conquests. It examines the sexual relations, mainly between males, that the Spaniards and Portuguese encountered when they entered various parts of the Americas from 1492 until around 1750. Trexler focuses above all on the native American berdaches or "she-men" - the biological males in tribes across the Americas who, in all possible ways, imitated women throughout their lifetimes. The author explores in detail the reactions of the Spaniards and the Portuguese to the appearance and behavior of the berdaches, using this as a way to reflect on European sexuality, on sexual relations in the Americas and on the relations - sexual and otherwise - between conquerors and conquered.
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