RIP Virginia Prince
Posted by helenboyd on 05/3/09 9:06 AM
http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2009/05/03/rip-virginia-prince/ (http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2009/05/03/rip-virginia-prince/)
Dr. Richard Docter announced at dinner last night, here at the Liberty Conference, that Virginia Prince had died at the age of 96. She was in good health and mentally acute until about a month ago when her health began a steep decline. Docter was her biographer as a well as a friend.
I met the grand dame here, in this Philly Airport Hilton hotel, about five years ago, and I am a little surprised by how moved I have been to hear of her passing. She was an imperfect person, as we all are, but rocked where it counted: having the cojones to be an out-transvestite in the 1950s. Her bravery is something we'd be fools, as a community, not to acknowledge.
96? wow. wonder if being TG can be good for longevity?
RIP Virginia.
23 April 2008
Virginia Prince (1912 - 2009). pharmacologist, grooming products retailer, femmiphilic organizer.
http://zagria.blogspot.com/2008/04/virginia-prince-1912-pharmacologist.html (http://zagria.blogspot.com/2008/04/virginia-prince-1912-pharmacologist.html)
Arnold Lowman was born and raised in Los Angeles, son of the orthopedic surgeon and closet transvestite, Charles Lowman. He transvested in public as a teenager using the name Muriel. He attended Pomona College, Los Angeles where he shared a dorm with Edward Richards, the future Barbara Wilcox. In 1939, Arnold completed his PhD. in pharmacology, and in 1941 he married. He taught briefly at his alma mater, University of California at San Francisco.
He attended psychiatric case studies, and using the pseudonym, Charles Prince, was able to meet other transvestites, one of whom was Louise Lawrence. He was a patient of Karl Bowman of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Clinic who told him to "relax and accept yourself". His transvestism was publicized during his divorce, which led to contacts with other transvestites, in addition to contacts that he got though knowing Louise Lawrence. He married a second time in the late 1940s to a wife who was more accepting. They ran a business selling grooming products for dogs and humans. By the late 1950s he had developed the concept of "femmiphilia" and was talking of his feminine self as "a real personality in her own right" and for a few years tried taking female hormones.
I read about Virginia Prince in a number of places. She was bold during a time when it wasn't safe or fashionable. She was a pioneer and icon who made you think. It seems that people either loved her or hated her. Either way, Virginia Prince made things much easier for all of us.
Gennee