| Abstract |
In the 1920s when Laura Dillon felt like a man trapped in a womanʾs body, there were no words to describe her condition; ʺtranssexualsʺ had yet to enter common usage. And there was no known solution to being stuck between the sexes. Laura Dillon did all she could on her own: she cut her hair, dressed in menʾs clothing, bound her breasts with a belt. But in a desperate bid to feel comfortable in her own skin, she experimented with breakthrough technologies that ultimately transformed the human body and revolutionized medicine. From upper-class orphan girl to Oxford lesbian, from post-surgery romance with Roberta Cowell (an early male-to-female) to self-imposed exile in India, Michael Dillonʾs incredible story reveals the struggles of early transsexuals and challenges conventional notions of what gender really means. Also includes information on Roberta Cowell, Christine Jorgensen, Institute for Sexual Science (Berlin), estrogen, testosterone, etc. |
