Many of today\u2019s anti-trans sentiments revolve around the belief that things like gender-affirming care and nonbinary identities are part of a new trend. Yet, over a century ago, one doctor\u2019s revolutionary work around gender and sexuality suggests otherwise. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German-Jewish sexologist and activist, grew famous (and infamous) for his theory of sexual relativity. While he may be largely forgotten, journalist Daniel Brook wants to reintroduce Hirschfeld to today\u2019s discussion around gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n
Drawing from his book,\u00a0The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin<\/em>, Brook retraces Hirschfeld\u2019s life and legacy. Living in an era when gay sex was a crime and gender roles were rigid, Hirschfeld taught that each person has their own unique mixture of masculinity and femininity. He advocated for gay rights and counseled patients toward self-acceptance. He also became part of Berlin\u2019s cabaret scene and helped turn it into the world\u2019s queer capital. But this was also during the rise of Nazis. They ransacked his Institute for Sexual Science and burned his books, nearly erasing his work from history.<\/p>\n Brook wants to bring him back into the next century. Brook argues that Hirschfeld\u2019s life, and his gift for thinking beyond the confines of his world, have much to teach us. While the same societal fights continue, Brook believes there may be something new to learn from the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many of today\u2019s anti-trans sentiments revolve around the belief that things like gender-affirming care and nonbinary identities are part of a new trend. Yet, over a century ago, one doctor\u2019s revolutionary work around gender and sexuality suggests otherwise. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German-Jewish sexologist and activist, grew famous (and infamous) for his theory of sexual relativity. While he may be largely forgotten, journalist Daniel Brook wants to reintroduce Hirschfeld to today\u2019s discussion around gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n Drawing from his book,\u00a0The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin<\/em>, Brook retraces Hirschfeld\u2019s life and legacy. Living in an era when gay sex was a crime and gender roles were rigid, Hirschfeld taught that each person has their own unique mixture of masculinity and femininity. He advocated for gay rights and counseled patients toward self-acceptance. He also became part of Berlin\u2019s cabaret scene and helped turn it into the world\u2019s queer capital. But this was also during the rise of Nazis. They ransacked his Institute for Sexual Science and burned his books, nearly erasing his work from history.<\/p>\n Brook wants to bring him back into the next century. Brook argues that Hirschfeld\u2019s life, and his gift for thinking beyond the confines of his world, have much to teach us. While the same societal fights continue, Brook believes there may be something new to learn from the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":66858,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[54],"class_list":["post-66856","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tribe_events_cat-arts-culture","cat_arts-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/66856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/66856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66856"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=66856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}