ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

"Rejuvenating the Nation" through Hormones: Pluralistic Visions of Endocrinology and Sexology in Modern India (1900-1950)

• In Event: Gendered Innovations and Limitations

English Abstract

The discovery of hormones revolutionized the life sciences in the early 20th century as hormones came to be endowed with magical properties ranging from the reversal of aging to sexual rejuvenation. Sexologists were particularly enthused by the emergence of endocrinology. Some of the most prominent names in Western sexology and endocrinology, such as Magnus Hirschfeld and Eugen Steinach, worked together performing experiments to change one's sexual orientation, reverse sexual decline, and establish the hormonal basis of gender and sexuality. This paper aims to bring about a shift in the Eurocentric perspective of the fields by revealing how Indian scientists and sexologists were not passive recipients of Western knowledge but were actively creating new theories on the hormonal regulation of gender and sexual expression. They devised innovative ideas that made endocrinology locally relevant while simultaneously engaging with and also challenging dominant theories of the field. I will show how Dr. A.P. Pillay, one of the foremost Indian sexologists, debunked Eugen Steinach's supposed miracle cure for sexual rejuvenation. I will also illustrate how Indian life scientists deployed endocrinology in unique ways by carrying out novel experiments to extract sex hormones from the Indian jackfruit. Emphasizing the plural worldviews engendered by the enmeshment of endocrinology and sexology in India, I will conclude the paper by highlighting how an Indian physician, Chandra Chakravarti, combined eugenics, sexology, and endocrinology to produce a vision in which maintaining an optimal endocrinological equilibrium was linked to individual well-being and as a means of “rejuvenating the nation.”

Author

• Arnav Bhattacharya, Bryn Mawr College