This week is Transgender Awareness Week and since normally I spend this week being a guest speaker at a local high school to inform and educate, something I can’t do due to guest speakers being disallowed as a precaution for Covid which is the correct call, I decided I’m going to post bits and pieces of Transgender History during this week here on Daily Kos.
Today I want to teach you all about Dr. Magnus Hirschfield. Magnus Hirschfield lived in Germany at the beginning of last century and in 1918 opened an institute to study the science of sex and gender in people. At a time when most of his contemporaries were throwing transgender men and women into insane asylums and torturing them to convert them into being straight, Magnus realized that people needed to be who they are and that torturing them was wrong.
He developed techniques and surgeries to help transgender people be who they are on the inside. He was one of the first doctors to develop sexual affirmation surgeries, One of his institutes first patients was an employee by the name of Dora Richter. Between 1922 and 1931 Dora had several surgeries to fully transition. Her story was a success. Unfortunately not all of the institutes patients were successes, as Lili Elbe received 5 surgeries between 1930 and 1931, unfortunately she developed a blood infection due to the state of medicine at the time.
His institute helped many people, though it wasn’t to last. Remember he was a scientist trying to help transgender people in Germany after the Great War. I shouldn’t need to say what comes next as you are already all thinking it. But with the rise of Nazi’s in Germany during the time between 1918 and 1936, Dr. Hirschfield was forced to flee Germany. Much of the knowledge his institute gained in the about 20 years it was in operation was lost due to the rise of far right sentimentality in Germany. As marginalized people and those that assist them are always the first targets by the far right.
100 years ago modern sexual reassignment surgery was developed, and to this day people still treat Trans men and women as though they are new to the world. Transgender people existed long before the surgeries that allowed us to live as themselves, some don’t even want/need the surgery to feel like themselves, but for those that do, the 100 years of the surgeries existing is something that should be known by more people.
I will be posting a new bit of information each day during this years transgender awareness week, so please check back tomorrow during day two.
Tuesday, Nov 17, 2020 · 1:34:56 AM +00:00
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Elixa
Just remembered something I wanted to say that I forgot to. Everything I post this week is intended as something to get people started on educating themselves further. I will also be adding links to the diaries I post throughout the week to the earlier ones I post, so if you miss one don’t worry there will be links back to them.