h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Berthold Buttgereit and the Gender Police - A87903543
Author: SashaQ - happysad - Editor - U9936370

I enjoyed researching this Entry and hope you enjoy reading it

Excellent research! (smiley> I was wondering what Berthold Buttgereit did that merited wrestling with all that tricky handwriting...

It's pretty amazing that the Germans were so broadminded back then. But then, Cologne has always been a tolerant place.

No suggestions to make - a very tidy entry here.

This is interesting and well written.

I guess there were, until recently anyway, more cases of people born female dressing as men than the other way round, if only because being seen as 'male' conferred social advantages. I wonder if people born as men who wanted to be accepted as women had an even tougher time?

An interesting tale.
I must admit I'm curious as to how well off he was, and was his experience typical? Working as a bookkeeper implies a fair degree of education and it is possible he was bookkeeping somewhere important, which may or may not mean that his case was atypical. Would someone who was, say, an uneducated dirt poor farmhand have had the same treatment? (Not something I expect you to be able to answer – just wondering…)

NB: F19585?thread=8319144

<BB<

Thanks everyone

That is an interesting question MVP - I think it was the case that more women dressed as men in the past, eg to serve their country (which I touched on in A87898667 ) because of the social advantages.

I have seen it estimated that there would be about equal numbers of transgender men and women, though. Trans women have had more prominence, because trans men more often found ways of dealing with dysphoria without being noticed. Also trans women are scrutinised more for either not being able to live up to masculine ideals, or for being perceived as bringing male privilege into feminine ideals, so that makes for a tougher time indeed...

Another interesting question, <BB<. I guess one would have had to be relatively well off to be able to go to a specialist doctor then. Quite a few passes were issued, but almost certainly fewer than the number of people who would have been at risk without one... It is the same today, that some trans people haven't got the means to be able to be themselves in any way, because if their support networks turned against them they would be destitute, and others can't afford to transition as much as they need to deal with the dysphoria... The internet helps to make connections these days, though.

I found out yesterday that the s in the famous 1933 photo of Nazis burning books were the 20,000 books and journals belonging to the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sex Research) run by Magnus Hirschfeld, the founder of Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (Scientific-Humanitarian Committee), which I believe was the first organisation campaigning for LGBT rights.

<BB<

Wow, I did not know that. Good find!

Wow indeed

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