75. Today in 1920s Turkey: 8 April 1928 (Earliest Gender Reassignment Surgery?)

(News snippet with photograph, Karagöz, 8 April 1928, no. 2093, page 3.)

Comments:
You may be asking yourself “Gender reassignment surgery in the 1920s? Was science even advanced enough back then for that?” And indeed the 1920s are a bit early but still in the ballpark of when such surgeries were being performed. The first somewhat successful gender reassignment surgeries were carried out in the earliest years of the 1930s. One can only imagine how many unsuccessful operations went unrecorded or unreported in the build-up to the 30s. This story likely covers one such example of a failed surgery. We don’t know for sure what this child’s ultimate fate was, but since this operation’s success never became a story, it is safe to assume that as an early attempt, it failed. Furthermore, I would guess that the body of patient so young would not be able to recover from such a risky operation, although, to be fair, I can’t tell from this article what such an operation entailed and how invasive or extensive it was.

The brief snippet does leave us with perhaps more questions than answers. For instance, we have no idea why the child’s gender was changed. The child could have had ambiguous organs or two sets of organs. But why couldn’t such a surgery wait until the child is old enough to be strong enough to survive a surgery? Surly, this wasn’t an aesthetic choice made by the parents; however, it is suspect considering the child was being made a male from a female since males (sons, rather than daughters) were more overtly valued in Turkey back then. Although, personally I’d like to think that such a motivation was not the case.

Even more questions are raised with the title, which states “A Small Child Has ALSO Become Male.” The use of “also” suggests that this is not the first gender reassignment surgery overall, but only the first operation performed on someone so young. So how many have happened, when was the first attempt, and have the patients survived them?

Finally, it is worth noting that the story ends with some thoughts on the future of this child and whether or not he will comprehend what has just happened to him. I am surprised that the author never once questions the validity, necessity, or morality of such a surgery but rather wonders whether it was too early for the surgery. The author acknowledges that the child did not have a choice in the matter and that maybe if left to grow up, they’d decide for themselves if they want to remain female or become a man. In many ways, this is relatively forward-thinking commentary on the subject. In the end the author ponders this boy’s future and wonders whether or not he will grow up to want to change back to a woman.

English
A Small Child Has Also Become Male
The child that you see sitting in the nurse’s lap in this picture is four-year-old Ms. Hadiye who was operated on at the Izmir State Hospital; she turned from a girl to a boy and now his name is Mr. Hidayet. It would have been better if the innocent little one had grown up a little before become a boy, he would have better understood both femaledom and maledom; now who knows, if they tell him this story when he grows up he may not even believe it. Or maybe by that time he will have changed his gender again to become a woman!

Türkçe
Küçük bir Yavru da Erkek Oldu
İzmir Memleket Hastanesi’nde şu yandaki resimde hasta bakıcı hanımın kucağında gördüğünüz henüz dört yaşında bir yavru olan Hadiye Hanım’a ameliyet yapılmış, kızken erkek olmuş, adı da Hidayet Bey konmuştur. Ma’sumcağız biraz büyüyüp sonra erkek olsaydı daha iyidi, hem kadınlığı, hem de erkekliği iyice anlardı, büyüyünce bu hikayeyi kendisine anlattıkları zaman kim bilir, belki de inanmaz. Yahutta o zamana kadar yine cinsiyet değiştirip sakın kadın olmasın!

(Entire page, Karagöz, 8 April 1928, no. 2093, page 3.)