True Sex

‘Some Very Queer Couples’: Gender Migrants and Intimacy in Nineteenth‐Century America

“…The full biographical details of these subjects' lives and descriptions of their feelings, desires and aspirations rarely make it into the archive. 8 Although centring internal gender identity does not provide the most fruitful method for approaching the archive, historians have much to gain from paying attention to today's transgender advocacy claims. By urging us to support individuals' quest for gender self-determination, transgender advocates are really asking us to respect people's choices about public expression and daily social interactions.…”

“…Sexologists might have pinned Feingold as a female sexual invert (the word lesbian was also beginning to make its appearance in some American publications). 71 Those who were perceived as female husbands routinely faced punishment in the form of a humiliating, coerced return to gender conformity. 72 If he became the subject of such a narrative, Feingold risked losing his ability to live undisturbed in his new gender.…”

A Man and a Perpetuum Mobile? Assigned Hermaphrodite Andreas Bruce's Memoirs

“…46 That Bruce seems to have taken a sort of refuge in rural life is in line with Skidmore's findings: according to Skidmore, many trans* men seem to have preferred living outside of bigger cities. 47 Life in a small community may have provided better opportunities not only to pass as men, but also to be accepted as men, albeit with non-normative bodies. This also appears to have been the case for Bruce.…”