Wondrous Transformations

A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution

Alison Li

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781469674858
• eBook ISBN: 9781469674865
• Subtopic: Medical Theory, Practice & Reference

Harry Benjamin (1885–1986), a German-born endocrinologist, was a pivotal figure in the development of transgender medicine. He was physician to transgender pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen, the 1950s “Ex-GI” turned “Blonde Beauty” media sensation, and in turn, she and other collaborators helped to shape Benjamin’s influential 1966 book, The Transsexual Phenomenon. Alison Li’s much-needed biography of Benjamin chronicles his passion for hormones and his lifelong interest in sexology.

Drawing from extensive research in archival documents, secondary sources, and interviews, Li tells the story of Benjamin’s early ventures in gerontology and his later work with over a thousand transgender patients. Benjamin’s contributions to treatment, education, research, and networking helped to create the institutional foundations of transgender medicine. Moreover, they set the stage for a radical reconsideration of gender identity, challenging us to reflect upon what it is to be male or female and to envision moving beyond these long-held categories.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• A Note on Terminology
• Preface
• That Which Sets in Motion
• Beginnings
• Part of That Power, Not Understood
• A Glandular View of Life
• A Science of Sex
• A Black Cloud Lifting
• In the Border Fields
• Wanderer between Two Worlds
• Changing the Body to Match the Mind
• Defining Sex in the Atomic Age
• The Transsexual Phenomenon
• Winter of Our Discontent
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index