Gender Diversity and its Societal Place in Medieval Scandinavia

Medieval Scandinavian literature held a trope that bent the gendered actions and presentations of its characters, which in turn changed their social standing within their stories: the more masculine the action or presentation, the higher the individual ascended. Furthermore, homophobia and transphobia have been prevalent within academia for decades, which has resulted in the overlook of queer characters within medieval literature. Countering these historic attitudes, this paper finds evidence of possible gender diversity and deviation within medieval Scandinavian life in both literary and archaeological evidence. This preliminary study inspects the Poetic and Prose Eddas, selected Icelandic Family Sagas, and archaeological burials deemed diversionary from gendered expectations. I find that there was, in fact, gender deviation within these sources and, by extension, everyday life in medieval Scandinavia.