“I was born a boy,
raised as a girl.”
– Karl M. Baer, the first person to undergo gender-affirmation surgery –
We are familiar with LGBTQIA+ in the realm of sexual diversity, but do you know what the “I” represents? Let’s learn about this through the story of Karl M. Baer an author and social worker who was the world’s first person to undergo gender-affirming surgery.”
Karl M. Baer was born into a Jewish family in 1885 in a town in Germany. At birth, a nurse informed his father that Karl’s body was “weird,” and the gender could not be determined. Eventually, a doctor confirmed that Karl was a girl. Karl was then raised as a girl named Martha Baer. In 1906, Karl became the first person to undergo gender–affirming surgery.
However, Baer was referred to as transgender, but considering the contemporary understanding of gender, the more appropriate term would be intersex. (Learn more about Intersex via https://thaip.bs/2qOCF4e)
“I was born a boy, raised as a girl.”
In his 1907 autobiography “Memoirs of a Man’s Maiden Years,” published under the pseudonym N.O. Body, Baer recounted how he felt unwelcome at school and struggled with his assigned gender. As a teenager, the differences between Baer and other girls became evident. He began to develop a mustache and had a low voice. Baer also found himself attracted to women.
“One may raise a healthy boy in as womanish a manner as one wishes, and a female creature in as mannish; never will this cause their senses to remain forever reversed.” Baer wrote about it in his book.
In 1904, Baer moved to Hamburg, Germany, to work as a social worker with B’nai Brith, a Jewish organization. He began living openly as a man and introducing himself as such.
“I introduce myself as a man and have never presented as a woman,” Baer wrote. “But in reality, what am I? Am I a man? Goodness, no. I would be overjoyed if I were a man, but miracles don’t happen these days.”
Two years later, Baer had an accident involving a tram in Berlin. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors discovered that his identification showed him as a woman despite his appearance as a man. During his recovery, the medical team sought advice from Magnus Hirschfeld, a physician with expertise in gender. Dr. Magnus diagnosed Baer as “a man mistakenly identified as a woman.”
Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld was a notable researcher who studied sex and gender. He was among the first to advocate for the dismissal of laws prohibiting same-sex relations. Additionally, he was part of the early groups studying what he referred to as the “Third Sex,” which included Intersex and Transgender.
In Baer’s case, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld advised him to undergo surgery for gender correction. At that time, there were no clear regulations about gender reassignment, but Baer needed to go through many procedures for gender affirmation. He had to obtain forms from various authorities before the surgery.
After being released from the hospital in December 1906 with medical certification identifying him as a man, Baer obtained a new birth certificate in 1907 from a court clerk in Arolsen. This allowed him to marry Beile Halpern. Unfortunately, she passed away due to pneumonia shortly after their wedding. Baer then remarried Elza Max in 1909.
It is unknown which surgery Baer underwent because of the Nazi book burnings in 1930. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s notes, which included Baer’s medical records, were destroyed.
Iris Rachamimov, a transgender historian, told Haaretz that while many people undergo a social transition by changing their appearance and social status to reflect their gender, Baer was different from others because he “used medical technology and surgery to change his gender.”
Reference: https://thaip.bs/SQnumS8, https://thaip.bs/iZyZlDc
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