The subjective cut: sex reassignment surgery in 1960s and 1970s science fiction

Med Humanit. 2016 Dec;42(4):e20-e25. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2016-010968. Epub 2016 Nov 17.

Abstract

This article considers the way in which ethical concerns about sex reassignment surgery and especially the research and clinical practice of the sexologist Dr John Money (1921-2006) is being negotiated in the 1960s and 1970s novels Myra Breckinridge and Myron by Gore Vidal and The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter. Drawing on the theories of gender and embodiment developed by Money, the article reads the novels as a critical response and discursive interaction with emergent sexological concepts.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Gender Identity*
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Literature, Modern* / history
  • Male
  • Medicine in Literature*
  • Science
  • Sex Reassignment Surgery / ethics*
  • Sexology* / history
  • Transgender Persons* / history