Transsexuality throughout History

[caliyr]

Source: My blog http://xxtoxy.blogspot.com/2012/04/transgendered-in-history.html


I thought this is interesting and I'd share. If you have any more, please share too!


Venus Castina was a mythical ancient Greek goddess who "reacted sympathetically to feminine souls locked up in male bodies."

Sardanapalus, an Assyrian king, allegedly dressed in women's clothing and spun thread with his wives.

Philo of Judea (30 BCEto 40 CE) wrote about transsexuality.

During the ninth century CE, John Anglicus -- an English scientist -- was allegedly elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church by an unanimous vote, to succeed Pope Leo V in 853 CE. However, according to the story, he was actually Joan, a woman. She gave birth during a procession in Rome and was either assassinated on the spot or sent to a convent for the rest of her life to repent. There is no such pope in modern official church records.
 
During the 17th century, Abbé de Choisy, a genetic male, played as an actress for five months and later became the Ambassador of Louis XIV to Siam.

Chevalier d'Eon (1728 to 1810) was a male French diplomat and mistress to King Louis XV. He spent the second half of his life as a woman. Eonism, a term referring to cross-gendered behavior, was derived from d'Eon's name. It was first used by Havelock Ellis, an early human sexuality researcher. The term is no longer in wide use.






Lord Cornbury was the first royal governor of New Jersey and New York from 1702 to 1708. He is widely believed to have dressed as a woman during his term in office. However, Patricia Bonomi has written a book attacking this belief and attributing them to rumors by his political enemies.

[Renton]

Charlie Parkhurst was a renowned stage coach driver who lived as a man for the majority of his life, and is considered a local hero in my hometown for possibly being one of the first biological women to vote in California. It always bothers me when I read articles, because they say that he was "masquerading" as a man without giving any regards to the possibility that he was trans, and because he's considered a feminist symbol, some people find it "sexist" to consider it.  He kept his secret until his death as most people didn't find out that he was biologically female until it came to his burial.


Here's one of the articles if you're interested:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.05.03/charley-0310.html

[spacial]

This is one of those issue where the lack of information is a good thing. It means these people have been successful.

I recall a story of a 19th (or it might have been the 18th) century gfemale who became a man. Successfully trained and qualified as a Dr and even joined the British Army as a surgeon. He was only found out after he was mortally wounded.

In the early 70s I did some research on the numbers of prominent people in history who were homosexual. It was quite astonishing. But equally, with the penalties, it isn't surprising so many either spent their lives running away from it or simply being incredibly discrete.

I should say, at that time, I wasn't entirely certain being gay wasn't a nasty perversion which I should continue fighting and being transgender simply didn't occur to me really. Though it would have made so much sense if it had.

[The Passage]

There are also the Hijras of the middle east and India... which have been around for, God, thousands of years I think -- under different cultural names over time. I think the word "Hijra" is from Arabic or something. Traditionally, the Hijras have been a sort of safe haven for outcasts of society, usually transsexuals and other people with similar conditions; intersex, etc. They have also been known to help their own and other struggling people with therapy, helping them cope with their feelings and such. In society, they serve almost like a revered but feared "coven of witches" or a religious cult.

They were famous for performing ancient methods of sexual reassignment surgery without anesthesia... it was a kind of "rite of passage" I guess. Thankfully, they no longer do that. XD

[MacKenzie]

Neat! 

[caliyr]

Here's one of the articles if you're interested:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.05.03/charley-0310.html

What I seriously hate about articles like these is that they refer to the transsexual person in the inappropriate way... Charlie Parkhurst most probably have lived as a man because he felt like being a man, so I dont get their point of she-ing him.

They were famous for performing ancient methods of sexual reassignment surgery without anesthesia...

Holy... THAT.