Audrey Martel-Dion

Audrey is a PhD candidate in early modern European history working under the guidance of Paula Findlen. Her research focuses primarily on gender, sex, and sexuality in legal, medical, and literary works between the 16th and 18th century, with a particular interest in the queer and trans possibilities of the past. In her work, she has investigated the competing discourses about female same-sex desires in Italy, various motifs and cases of intersexuality (early modern hermaphroditism) in France as well as tools and practices of “gender transing” across Europe. Her research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec, secteur Société et Culture.

Before joining Stanford, Audrey completed an MA in History at the Université de Montréal with a thesis examining discourses on homoeroticism and transmaculinity in Italy through the life of Giovanni Bordoni (1716-1743).