Summary
It was sometime in the early years of their marriage when Gerda Weganer asked her husband, Einar, to dress in women’s clothes and sit for a painting. The intended subject was running late, and suggested to Gerda that Einar be her stand in. “His legs and feet are as pretty as mine,” she said.
All dressed up in a wig, painted with rouge and powders, and buckled into high-heeled shoes, Einar, now Lili, looked into the mirror with a singular wonder: “Was it really possible that I could be so good looking?”
So begins the story of Lili Elbe, a transgender painter and painter’s muse, who underwent one of the first series of modern gender confirmation surgeries. Her third surgery, meant to implant a uterus, eventually killed her, but not before she documented her life stories into papers that would later be compiled into the book, Man into Woman.
Lili Elbe’s hope was that her book fall into the hands of people like her. She wanted her words to help generations of trans people know that they weren’t alone. Unfortunately, the book is out of print. So when we got our hands on a copy, we couldn’t wait to share one of our favorite scenes, Lili’s christening night. Here’s a little history, from The Heart.
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, it's Natalie here. |
| 0:03.8 | Have you ever wondered if Love is blind and Radio Topia had a baby what it would sound |
| 0:07.3 | like? |
| 0:08.3 | Well you don't have to wonder anymore. |
| 0:10.1 | A brand new show is coming to Radio Topia and it's called Hang Up. |
| 0:13.4 | It's a reality dating show with no rings attached and seriously it's a blast. |
| 0:17.7 | We have our star who's looking for love and six colors, the perspective of love interests. |
| 0:22.4 | Each week the star goes on phone dates with their colors and the star eliminates one |
| 0:26.2 | color from the show. |
| 0:27.9 | But here's the twist, the final color gets to choose their prize. |
| 0:33.1 | Will they choose the star back and take an all expenses paid vacation together? |
| 0:37.7 | Or will they hang up on the star and choose a cash prize instead? |
| 0:41.3 | Hang up is hosted by the Delightful Zikia Givens and I promise you you have not heard |
| 0:45.1 | anything like it. |
| 0:46.6 | The first episode drops July 25th so don't get left behind and subscribe to Hang Up |
| 0:50.3 | today. |
| 0:53.6 | Short and sweet by the heart, a little history, Copenhagen, sometime in the early 20th |
| 1:03.9 | century. |
| 1:09.2 | The studio of married painters, I know in Gerdo, Wagoner. |
| 1:14.3 | I recollect one evening of the first years of our marriage. |
| 1:17.9 | We were living in this studio which commanded a wide view over Copenhagen. |
| 1:22.5 | It was reading me a primitive fable out of antiquity. |
... |
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