The wisest teachings of Buddhism say that one must move beyond gender. But, as Serinity Young shows in this enlightening work, the rhetoric of Buddhist texts, the symbolism of its iconography, and the performative import of its rituals, all tell different, and often contradictory, stories. In Courtesans and Tantric Consorts, Serinity Young takes the reader on a journey through more than 2000 years of biographical writings, iconographic depictions, and ritual practices revealing the colorful mosaic of beliefs that inform Buddhist views about gender and sexuality.

Courtesans and Tantric Consorts, Serinity Young, Routledge Curzon, Paperback,
255 pages, $38.95.

Serinity Young lives in New York City where she is a Research Associate in the Dept. of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and teaches at Queens College. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1990 and has received numerous grants and awards, including a Fulbright and being a fellow at the Center for Writers and Scholars of the New York Public Library. She has done fieldwork in India, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Russia. Three of her books have been written for high school students: Buddhism: An Introduction, and Hinduism: An Introduction, and Richard Francis Burton: Explorer, Scholar, Spy.