The Surprisingly Old Science of Living as Transgender

In the 20th century’s middle decades, the first recipient of phalloplasty surgery fought to be recognized as a man

Transgender individuals have been recently maligned as succumbing to a new “fad,” symptomatic of “leftist” modern culture. In fact, bigendered, nongendered or transgendered people have appeared throughout human history, and the practice of sexual reassignment surgery dates from the Second World War. Dillon would be one of the pioneers, making use of plastic surgery developed to treat the battle-scarred. In many ways, the technical, medical and legal hurdles were more easily surmounted then than now, but the fight for acceptance, and the right to exist in peace, was just as fraught.