I think not conforming to gender stereotypes is very difficult in any society and has the same sort of conflicts that exist today. Several of the authors listed

I think not conforming to gender stereotypes is very difficult in any society and has the same sort of conflicts that exist today. Several of the authors listed were outed as their assigned genders against their will, even though they may have also insisted on being referred to with male pronouns or performed the dress and behavior of a male. I don’t know how else we are to evaluate that gender and conformations(or refusal to conform) to the societal definitions of gender except partially through our current and contemporary notions of gender- which is the analysis of non-binary, cis, and trans identities. (I think this is not unlike the often criticized notion that extremely close and intimate interactions between two people of the same gender identity is often glossed over in history as being just really good, lifelong companions.) I don’t understand how that is regressive or harmful. Who is it harming and how does this harm them?