July
21
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Flash Back: Paris Transgender Community Circa 1950’s
Christer Strömholm was a photographer who captured the lives of Paris’ transgender community in the 1950’s. His exhibit is pretty remarkable. I am sharing some of the photos and the introduction to his book to continue the conversation around the T in LGBT.
“This is a book about insecurity. A portrayal of those living a different life in the big city of Paris, of people who endured the roughness of the streets.
This is a book about humiliation, about the smell of whores and night life in cafés.
This is a book about the quest for self-identity, about the right to live, about the right to own and control one’s own body.
These are images of women—biologically born as men—that we call ‘transsexuals.’ As for me, I call them ‘my friends of place Blanche.’ This friendship started here, in the early 60s and it still continues.”
The complete photography collection can be found here.
Bluxome Street Post 
I would also like to continue and extend the discussion and education around the T in LGBT, as a trans-man education is remarkable important, both for myself and those around me right now as I begin my transition.
You are incredibly brave and self-aware for starting this journey. I am going to post more transgender content so I can do my small part to make this a trans-inclusive world. Please keep me updated as you continue the journey.
It’s important to remember the “trans” community existed long before the word was coined. Books such as this and other records are wonderful reminders not only of the past but the fact we are all people, then and now.
Kira if you had any resources or book titles to share that would be awesome. I have received a few emails from people interested on the topic. Thanks for reading.
I’ll do some digging. I know there is information out there regarding “two spirit” people in the native American tribes and “third gender” people in India, both have been spoken about online and in books, though at the moment I don’t have any titles. I’m sure I can track something down.
I am going to send that info on to the people.
I just finished a post I am going to put up in about an hour discussing this issue and includes a few books I found which discuss gender and gender variance.
I thought a post would be easier because of the amount of information to be shared.