Gottlieb Göttlich

Gottlieb Göttlich
Born Marie Rosine Göttlich
March 6, 1798
Nieder Leuba, Holy Roman Empire (Now Germany)
Known for Intersex condition

Gottlieb Göttlich (born Marie Rosine Göttlich) was an intersex man in the 1800s who became well known for his condition, as it was the first time many medical practitioners had seen such a case.

Göttlich was born March 6, 1798, in the Saxon village of Nieder Leuba, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and now present day Germany. At birth, Göttlich was presumed female and thus raised as Marie Rosine.[1] At the age of 33, Göttlich started to have severe pains in her abdominal section, believing the pain to be caused by herniated organs. Professor Friedrich Tiedmann from the University of Heidelberg examined Göttlich in November 1832. Upon examination, he found Göttlich "was evidently a man, with genitals of uncommon formation. She will dress herself, therefore, in men's clothes, and adopt the name of Gottlieb."[2]

Upon embracing a male identity, Göttlich used his unique situation to make a living for himself. He obtained a new passport with a male sex listed and toured across Europe, allowing schools and medical personnel to examine him for a price. Göttlich was examined in the German cities of Bonn, Jena, Marburg, Mainz, Offenbach, Breslau and Breme. In Britain, he exhibited himself in Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Montrose and Edinburgh. In Ireland, he exhibited himself in Cork and Dublin.[3] In continuing to travel across Europe, Göttlich reached "fame and fortune" because of his situation. When surgical aid was offered to "correct" his genitalia, Göttlich was “averse to a proposal of this kind, since it would at once deprive him of his... easy and profitable mode of subsistence”.[1]

Most works refer to Göttlich as a "hermaphrodite", though this term has fallen out of favor in recent years. The term "intersex" for those people with ambiguous or non-conforming genitalia is the modern appropriate term.[4][5]

The website Strange History referred to Göttlich as a "circus freak" and was critical of his earning money off his condition.[6] Other publications have referred to Göttlich as a "freak" as well, including a University of Exeter doctoral dissertation.[7] LGBTQ, trans and intersex advocates consider the words "hermaphrodite" and "freak" to be anti-trans and inappropriate.[8]

In literature

Göttlich has appeared in many books, including fiction and non-fiction. Some of these include:

References

  1. 1 2 Dreger, Alice (Winter 2000). "JARRING BODIES: THOUGHTS ON THE DISPLAY OF UNUSUAL ANATOMIES". Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 43 (2): 165–166. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  2. 1 2 Dreger, Alice Domurat (2009). Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. Harvard University Press. pp. 52–54. ISBN 9780674034334.
  3. 1 2 The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal 43. 1835. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  4. ↑ "Is a person who is intersex a hermaphrodite?". Intersex Society of North America. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Viloria, Hida. "Commentary: My life as a 'Mighty Hermaphrodite'". CNN. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Combing, Beach. "Changing Sex in Victorian England". Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Pettit, Fiona Yvette. "Freaks in Late Nineteenth-Century British Media and Medicine" (PDF). University of Exeter. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "Let’s Learn The Nine Anti-Trans Slurs We Should All Avoid". Queerty. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Eugenides, Jeffrey (2007). Middlesix. Picador. p. 19. ISBN 978-0312427733.
  10. ↑ King, Helen (2013). The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9781409463375.
  11. ↑ von Neugebaue, Franz Ludwig (1908). Hermaphroditismus beim Menschen. Klinkhardt.
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