“OK HUGÐA EK ÞAT ARGS AÞAL!”: QUEERNESS IN OLD NORSE SOCIETY AND MYTHS

Abstract

The Æsir, the gods of the Norse myths, are not a cis-heterosexual monolith, despite the traditional interpretations of the myths. Over the past thirty years scholars have exposed or teased out the queerness within the pantheon and the myths. I use a queer theoretical framework to interpret the gods’ actions and characters and to locate them within a queer context. I then show how their transgender elements belong to a tradition of transgender deities which began among the people of the Corded Ware Culture (ca. 2,800 B.C.E.). I turn to the specific cultural influences of the Germanic tribes which influenced Norse society in their regard of queer and transgender behavior and individuals. After discussing some of the anticipated objections to my arguments, I then demonstrate how several of the major gods of the Norse pantheon are either queer, transgender, or both.