Once upon a time there was a charming, persuasive prince who lived in the liberal land of Whoamireally. His mother, the Queen, ruled this kingdom with a benevolent, but iron hand. You see, the King was not in the castle. He was away doing those things Kings do. There were also three princesses in the castle and the prince enjoyed playing with them, almost more than he enjoyed doing anything else. One day he decided what he really wanted, more than anything else in the whole wide kingdom, was to be a princess. He knew he was not happy and comfortable being a prince. He went to Merlin, the magician, and told him what he wanted more than anything else in the whole wide kingdom and he asked the Magician to help him make his wish come true. Merlin the magician hemmed and hawed and thought and thought. Eventually he decided if he did not grant the wish of the prince, the prince just might do something foolish and hurt himself and so it came to pass ...... . The first biographic account of sex reassignment surgery was reported in 1933 (Money, 1970). The story took place in the late 1920's when the Danish artist Andreas Sparrer became Lili Elbe. The case of Christine Jorgensen, although not the first, was the one which caught public attention and dramatized the plight of the transsexual. (See more in text.)California State University, Northridge. Department of Education.Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-42
