Christine Jorgensen's gender confirmation surgery announced - December 1, 1952

On this day in 1952, the New York Daily News announced Christine Jorgensen's gender confirmation surgery. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello everyone, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day
in History Class, where we take a tiny bite of
history every day. Today is December one, nineteen. The day

(00:24):
was December one, nineteen fifty two. The New York Daily
News announced Christine Jorgensen's gender confirmation surgery, garnering Jorgensen international
fame and making her the first person in the US
to become a widely known for having the surgery. Jorgensen
was born in nineteen to working class Danish American parents.

(00:46):
After being rejected twice for her small stature, she was
finally drafted into the Army in August of nineteen. She
served as a clerk in New Jersey for a little
over a year. She was honorably discharged from the army,
after which point she studied at photography school in New Haven, Connecticut,
and enrolled at the Manhattan Medical and Dental Assistant School.

(01:08):
From a young age, Jourgensen thought that she was different
from boys, and as she got older, she realized that
she was attracted to men but did not feel like
she was gay. While she was in California, where she
had moved to pursue work in photography and film. She
told a couple of her friends that she felt like
she quote had the emotions of a girl. Jourgensen moved
back to the East Coast, and she continued to question

(01:30):
her identity. She learned about indo chronologists who were working
with hormones and animals, and read the book The Male Hormone,
and she wondered if hormone treatments were the answer to
her feelings. When an indo chronologists rejected her wishes for
hormonal treatment and referred her to a psychiatrist, she turned elsewhere.
In nineteen fifty, at the advice of a friend, Jorgensen

(01:53):
traveled to Denmark, where she met with Dr Christian Hamburger,
a specialist in hormonal therapy. Jorgensen underwent experimental estrogen therapy
and six operations. She chose the name Christine in honor
of her doctor. She wrote to her family telling them
that though her physical appearance had changed, she had not
changed as a person. It's not clear how Christine's story

(02:16):
got to the press. She might have leaked it herself,
It may have been a lab technician or a family
friend might have leaked the story. Either way, On December one,
nineteen fifty two, the New York Daily News reported the
story of Jorgensen's gender confirmation surgery with the headline x
GI becomes blonde Beauty. The article said the following, in part.

(02:38):
Dr Eugenie Anderson, US Ambassador to Denmark, was fully aware
of what was going on, and at the successful conclusion
of the operations, arranged that Christine's records be changed by
the Army and the Veterans Administration, and also by the
Bureau of Immigration so that the man who went abroad
three years ago could be readmitted as a woman. Jorgensen's

(03:00):
story brought new conversations about gender identity into the public sphere.
She got a lot more pressed and attention, some positive
and some negative. Some said she wasn't a real woman
and denounced her gender confirmation surgery. Regardless, she gained celebrity status.
She had an autobiographical sketch published in American Weekly. She
toured as an entertainer, performing in nightclubs and theaters, facing

(03:23):
discrimination along the way. She also gave lectures at colleges
and wrote an autobiography that was published in nineteen sixty seven.
She died of bladder cancer in ninety nine. I'm Eve
Scheffcote and hopefully you know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you've seen any good
history means lately, you can send them to us on

(03:44):
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an email at this Day at I heart media dot com.
Thanks again for listening. We'll see a place tomorrow. For

(04:08):
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