I am looking to integrate unheard voices into the survey class, before 1500. If you have secondary sources that you are willing to share please let me know.
Non-western cultures don't really care about gender. Gender issue is a western made concept and we see the consequences of this in several western countries. I am from West Africa and in several (religious) circles for example, the power is held behind the scene by a woman while men play the virility outside. But they don't have the essential power. The power is shared according to the type of task to be performed.
It is known that in the kingdom of Danhome (in the actual Benin Republic), the amazons were remarkable warriors. There are scientific papers on this female army. You can also read, Serbin (Sylvia), Reines d'Afrique. This is a remarkable piece of research that is commendable.
I recommend consulting the bibliographies of the following two texts :
Sexual Encounters in the Middle East, Derek Hopwood, Garnet Publishing (Ithaca Press), 1999
Desiring Arabs, Joseph A. Massad, University of Chicago Press, 2007
By way of example, the very first source cited by Hopwood in his bibliography is Abu Khalil, A. ‘Homosexuality in the Arab/Islamic civilization’, Arab Studies Journal, 1, i i, 1993.
You may find Nyx McLean's work out of South Africa beneficial. They published several articles and book chapters on pride history in Johannesburg and digital publics for LGBTQ communities. We collaborate together and, if you would like, I would be happy to make an introduction. Their Google scholar page is: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cLz38cQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Thank You Everyone! You have given me a great place to start. I am also compiling journal articles from JSTOR for students. If you are interested I will post my bibliography when I am finished closer to Spring.