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User:Nr2023/Lili Elbe

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In 2000, David Ebershoff wrote The Danish Girl, a fictionalised account of Elbe's life. It was an international bestseller and translated into many languages. This novel provided on of the earliest fictional accounts of gender affirmation surgery, which shaped LGBTQ literature[1]. In 2015, it was made into a film, also called The Danish Girl, produced by Gail Mutrux and Neil LaBute and starring Eddie Redmayne as Elbe. The film was well received at the Venice Film Festival in September 2015, though it has been criticised for casting a cisgender man to play a trans woman. Both the novel and film omitted topics, including Gottlieb's sexuality, which is evidenced by the subjects in her erotic drawings, and the disintegration of Gottlieb and Elbe's relationship after their annulment.


In 1930, Elbe went to Germany for sex reassignment surgery, which was highly experimental at the time. While in Germany, Elbe stayed in the Hirschfeld Institute for Sexual Science.[2] Prior to commencing any surgical procedures, Elbe's psychological health was evaluated by German sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld, through a series of tests[2]. A series of four operations were then carried out over a period of two years.[3] The first surgery, performed in Berlin was the removal of the testicles, carried out by Erwin Gohrbant[4]. The remainder of her surgeries were carried out by Kurt Warnekros, a doctor at the Dresden Municipal Women's Clinic.[2][5] (All of Lili Elbe's medical documents were ruined as a consequence of the Allied bombing raids, that destroyed the clinic and it's archives.[2][6]) The second operation was to implant an ovary onto her abdominal musculature, the third to remove the penis and the scrotum.[2][7] By this time, her case was a sensation in Danish and German newspapers. A Danish court annulled the couple's marriage in October 1930,[8] and Elbe was able to have her sex and name legally changed, including receiving a passport as Lili Ilse Elvenes.[9] The pseudonym "Lili Elbe" was first used in a Danish newspaper article written by Copenhagen journalist Louise "Loulou" Lassen for Politiken in February 1931.[6][10] Elbe returned to Dresden and began a relationship with French art dealer Claude Lejeune, whom she wanted to marry and with whom she wished to have children.[11][12] Gerda also went on to marry an Italian man after separating from Elbe, although the marriage ended in divorce shortly after[13].

In 1931, Elbe returned for her fourth surgery, to transplant a uterus and construct a vaginal canal.[11][14][15][16] This made her one of the earliest transgender women to undergo a vaginoplasty surgery, a few weeks after Erwin Gohrbandt performed the experimental procedure on Dora Richter.[6]

  1. ^ Hinton, Kenneth (2021). "Breaking the Gender Barriers of Femininity and Masculinity: Developing a Trans/Queer Identity in The Danish Girl through a New Historicist Lens". International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science. 2 (9): 2693–2555 – via IPRPD. {{cite journal}}: line feed character in |title= at position 60 (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Vicente, Marta V (2021-09-23). "The Medicalization of the Transsexual: Patient-Physician Narratives in the First Half of the Twentieth Century". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 76 (4): 392–416. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrab037. ISSN 0022-5045.
  3. ^ "Lili Elbe (1886–1931)". LGBT History Month. Archived from the original on 3 August 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  4. ^ Caughie, Pamela L., Emily Datskou, Sabine Meyer, Rebecca J. Parker, and Nikolaus Wasmoen, eds. Lili Elbe Digital Archive. Web. February 26, 2023. <http://www.lilielbe.org>.
  5. ^ Brown, Kay (1997) Lili Elbe. Transhistory.net.
  6. ^ a b c "A Trans Timeline – Trans Media Watch". Trans Media Watch. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  7. ^ Meyer 2015, pp. 271–281
  8. ^ Meyer 2015, pp. 308–311
  9. ^ "Man Into Woman". Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  10. ^ Loulou Lassen (February 28, 1931). "Lili Elbe Digital Archive – Contextual Material – Et Liv gennem to Tilværelser". Politiken. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Lili Elbe: the transgender artist behind The Danish Girl". This Week Magazine. 18 September 2015. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  12. ^ "The Incredibly True Adventures of Gerda Wegener and Lily Elbe". Coilhouse.net. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Gerda Wegener - Art, Death & Facts". Biography. 2021-04-06. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  14. ^ "The Danish Girl (2015)". HistoryVSHollywood.com. History vs Hollywood. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2016.[better source needed]
  15. ^ Harrod, Horatia (8 December 2015). "The tragic true story behind The Danish Girl". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Lili Elbe Biography". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2015.

In 1931, Lili Elbe was living in Denmark collaborating with her friend, Ernst Harthern on a memoir of her life.[1] Fra Mand til Kvinde was published by her german friend and editor under the name of Neils Hoyer, following her death[2]. The narrative provided details of her life as Danish painter and gender confirmation surgery. [1] The possibility of Lili Elbe being intersex has been proposed due to the narrative reporting possession of both male and female reproductive organs and the absence of medical record documenting her pre-surgical anatomy due to the Allied Bombing Raids. However, this theory has been disputed[2]. The narrative was published four times, in three different languages over the course of two years.[1] The UK and US versions of her semi-autobiographical narrative were published posthumously in 1933 under the title Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex.[3][4]

A film inspired by her life, The Danish Girl, was released in 2015.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Gailey, Nerissa (2016-11-28). "Strange Bedfellows: Anachronisms, Identity Politics, and the Queer Case of Trans*". Journal of Homosexuality. 64 (12): 1713–1730. doi:10.1080/00918369.2016.1265355. ISSN 0091-8369.
  3. ^ Worthen, Meredith (n.d.). "Lili Elbe – Painter". Biography.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  4. ^ Elbe, Lili (2020). Caughie, Pamela; Meyer, Sabine (eds.). Man Into Woman: A Comparative Scholarly Edition. Bloomsbury. pp. Introduction. ISBN 978-1-350-02149-5.

The media's narrative:

Man into Woman: An authentic Record of a Change of sex brought attention to new medical interventions as the story of Lili Elbe was circulated through American publications. [1]It is speculated among many publications that Elbe was intersex, although that has been disputed. Some reports indicate that she already had rudimentary ovaries in her abdomen and may have had Klinefelter syndrome. American publications, such as "A Man Becomes a Woman” and “When Science Changed a Man into a Woman,” published in the popular magazine the science of sex, Sexology, associated the story of Lili Elbe with cases of intersex sex changes. These narratives promoted a binary view of gender, reinforcing gender stereotypes among Americans[1]

Man into Woman: An authentic Record of a Change of sex also resulted in the case of Lili Elbe being publicized in European media Paul Weber. The story encouraged political action and brought awareness to the challenges faced by non-gender-conforming people. [2]

  1. ^ a b Meyerowitz, Joanne (1998). "Sex Change and the Popular Press: Historical Notes on Transsexuality in the United States, 1930–1955". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 4 (2): 159–187. doi:10.1215/10642684-4-2-159. ISSN 1064-2684.
  2. ^ KLM, Sutton, (2012). "We Too Deserve a Place in the Sun": The Politics of Transvestite Identity in Weimar Germany. OCLC 1315734135.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Preliminary Peer Review from CyanCaribou (2023-03-05)

- I like that you use lots of reliable sources from various dates, including more recent ones.

- I know you're probably not finished yet, but I think having sub-sections would be a good idea for example "personal life", "career" etc. and a clear lead section that summarizes the key points about Lili Elbe.

- Your tone is neutral and non-biased, which is super good but maybe expand on some of the contradictory views to evenly show both sides of the narrative.

- I like all the hyperlinks to other articles (helpful for readers looking for more information)

(2023-03-27)

- Great improvements on your article, I would suggest merging your bibliographies as it is a little confusing.

- subtitles would be useful in breaking your sections down a little more.

Peer Review Checklist

Your goal with a peer review is to identify specific ways the article could be improved, and note any major problems that ought to be fixed. Consider these questions:

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
  • relevant information, lack of subtitles and bibilography split up is confusing looks like 2 people were working quite separately.
Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • not that I see
Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • would be interesting to further explore the opinions at the time that sex reassignment surgery be controversial, maybe a section on the technology at the time, and the publics opinion. it seems to be written like the surgery was non-controversial if a reader were to skim over it.
Check the citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
  • looks good to me, I like the hyperlinks they're helpful
Is each fact supported by an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
  • more emphasis needed on the different viewpoints of the sex reassignment surgery at the time
Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that should be added?
  • variety of sources were used, but bibliography needs some work
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