Robert Knox’s Radical Sexology Theories and Their Legacy

Delve into the radical sexology theories of Robert Knox, overshadowed by his infamous association with the Burke and Hare murders, and their lasting impact on science.

In the annals of British history, few crimes are as infamous as the West Port murders committed by William Burke and William Hare in 19th-century Edinburgh. Their gruesome acts of killing at least 16 people and selling the bodies to anatomist Robert Knox for dissection classes left an indelible mark on society.

While the scandal is well-remembered, Knox’s groundbreaking work in sexual biology has largely been forgotten.

As Burke and Hare carried out their heinous deeds, Knox was developing radical ideas about sexual biology that anticipated major theorists like Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud.

His theories challenged the conventional wisdom of the time and laid the groundwork for modern sexology.

The Radical Theories of Robert Knox

Knox argued that all animals, including humans, begin life with both female and male characteristics. In the language of the period, he claimed embryos were hermaphrodite before developing more recognisably male or female traits.

Crucially, he believed elements of both sexes remained throughout an individual’s life.

At the time, many people believed the sexes were entirely separate and fixed. However, scientists were discovering examples in nature that challenged this assumption. Some animals, such as slugs and snails, naturally have both female and male sexual organs. Others can change sex during their lives. Individual birds of many species with apparently separate sexes can develop cross-sex characteristics, providing insights into perplexing physiological phenomena.

The Intersex Pig and Public Promotions

Knox drew on these observations to develop his theory. He even exhibited the genital organs of an intersex pig that had shown attraction to both sexes. He argued that such cases proved that male and female biology were deeply interconnected and coexistent in every individual. Knox publicly promoted his theory soon after the Burke and Hare furore erupted, hoping to restore his reputation by presenting his sexological ideas to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The Scandal and Its Aftermath

The scandal destroyed Knox’s career in Edinburgh. He moved to London, supporting himself through writing and lecturing until his death in 1862. Popular culture has continued to depict him as a sinister figure, overshadowing his sexological ideas. Among the various films to have revelled in the gruesome story of the Edinburgh bodysnatchers, he was portrayed by Peter Cushing in the 1960s horror film The Flesh and the Fiends and Tom Wilkinson in the 2010 black comedy Burke and Hare.

Despite the scandal, continued discoveries lent support to some of his central claims. Most significantly, scientists established that all mammalian embryos initially develop two sets of reproductive ducts before one usually disappears during development. This insight helped shape a scientific and cultural sexual revolution that continues to shape how we think about sex today.

The Legacy of Robert Knox

Knox’s role as a pioneer of one of modern science’s most influential sexological principles has been obscured by his lasting association with the West Port murders. However, his theories have had a profound impact on the field of sexology. Scottish medical writer George Drysdale embraced the notion that we are all fundamentally dual-sexed, writing in his popular 1855 book The Elements of Social Science“But a theory has lately been proposed, and received by many of the profoundest anatomists, that in truth all living beings, including man, are hermaphrodite.”

By the time Charles Darwin was running with the theory, jotting in a private notebook as early as 1838: “Every man & woman is hermaphrodite.” This insight helped shape a scientific and cultural sexual revolution that continues to shape how we think, and argue, about sex today.

Dr Ross Brooks, author of Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life: A History of Sex and Science traces the discoveries, creatures, and people that led Knox to his startling theory. His book explores how other Georgian and Victorian scientists found irrefutable evidence of our intersex origins and inheritance, much of which took place in Edinburgh.