The Development of Gender and Sexuality : A Conceptual History of MagnusHirschfelds texts

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the different words and theories that were used todescribe sexuality, sex and gender deviations during the late 1800s to early 1900s through theworks of Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. Magnus Hirschfeld was a self-identified homosexual manand medical doctor who during this time was active in the discourses surrounding the namingand explaining of sexual and gender minorities. Hirschfelds main contribution to thesediscourses was the coining of two different concepts, first the sexual intermediary and secondthe transvestite and transsexual. Sexual intermediaries was Hirschfelds term for everyone whodid not fit into the normative biological categories of either “male” or “female”. Hirschfeldsdescription of these people changed markedly throughout his career. In his early careerHirschfeld mainly saw sexual intermediaries as biological variations from the ideal types ofmen and women. But towards the end of his career, he started to question the categories ofmen and women, instead saying that everyone is actually an intermediary type because allhumans have both male and female aspects. He also coined the terms transvestite andtranssexual to describe those people who, regardless of their sexual preferences, has aninclination towards the behaviors and appearance of the other sex. In doing so he was one ofthe first people to differentiate between biological sex, psychological sex (or gender) andsexuality. In doing so the writings of Magnus Hirschfeld were essential in laying thefoundations for the future development of our modern understanding of gender and sexuality