Trans Trans: Transgender Histories Between Germany and the United States, 1882-1966

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Trans Trans Invitation

Trans Trans explores a network of individuals in Germany and the United States from the turn of the twentieth century into the 1950s who profoundly shaped transgender histories and identities. Turning medical-scientific history on its head, the exhibition documents the driving role that trans individuals played in the development of medical concepts and treatments and in the fostering of supportive communities for those seeking affirmation of their gender identities. The show exhibits extremely rare images from the world’s first popular magazine to focus on trans identity, The Third Sex, which was published in Berlin from 1930-1932, and it tracks connections between this earlier German history and the work of Dr. Harry Benjamin, whose 1966 book The Transsexual Phenomenon drew from his years of training in Germany and work with trans patients to make a plea for acceptance and supportive medical treatment to an American audience.

Trans Trans is produced in co-operation with Michele Hardy, Curator, Nickle Galleries; the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft in Berlin; the Institute for History and Ethics in Medicine of the Charité Clinic, Berlin; and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction in Bloomington, Indiana.

Exhibition Production: Annette F. Timm

Curated by Rainer Herrn, Michael Thomas Taylor, Annette F. Timm

DANCE PERFORMANCE:

June 1, 12:30 and 1:30 pm

Big Head/Small Neck

by Melanie Kloetzel/kloetzel&co.

CURATORS’ ROUND TABLE:

June 2, 1-4 pm

with Keynote by Aaron Devor

Chair in Transgender Studies

University of Victoria