I saw these amazing photos recently on Twitter of trans women in Paris back in the 1950s and was really taken by the style and atmosphere of the photos (another link here). They’re really amazing, taken by Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm around the Place Blanche district of Paris, near the Moulin Rouge. I’m going to sound like a big jet-setter here again but I’m actually heading over to BoundCon again in a few weeks in Germany, with a couple other stops including a quick stay in Paris, so these jumped out at me when I saw them. It’ll only be the second time I’ve been over there but I’ve saved up since last year and I’m real excited and should have some fun new photos.
There’s something about black and white and the styles of the past though that we just can’t touch today. When I see these photos I just wonder what the lives were like of these ladies. Did they live full-time – I’m guessing they did but who knows? – and what did they do for a living? Were they call girls, shopgirls, performers? And what was it like being trans back in that time, in that city? The photos suggest so much back-story and leave so many unanswered questions, beautiful and suggestive.
Sandra, the book in which most of these photos appear (published 1983, reprinted 2011) is an amazing introduction to the world these women inhabited. Many more images and extensive first-person narratives by the subjects, the photographer, and others. In English and French. You’d love it to bits. “Les Amies de Place Blanche,” Dewi Lewis Publishing, Stockport England (ISBN 978-1-907893-15-5).
Thanks, Annelise, that looks amazing! It’s pretty pricey but I might just have to splurge on that, looks fascinating, thanks for posting!
They were prostitutes, Dear. That’s what the book is about (which I own). Their lives were harsh – they were constantly harassed and hounded by the police, and mostly rejected by polite society. Most of them were trying to make enough money to go to somewhere else and have a sex change.