#coccinelle

[les-belles-mecaniques]

Volkswagen Coccinelle Limousine

[uwmspeccoll]

Pride Month: Coccinelle

Known by her stage name Coccinelle, Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy (1931-2006) was a celebrated French transgender activist and cabaret entertainer who was the first widely publicized celebrity to undergo gender reassignment in Europe. She made her debut as a transgender showgirl in 1953 at Chez Madame Arthur and later performed regularly at the famous nightclub Le Carrousel de Paris, which also featured regular acts by other famous transgender women such as April Ashley and Bambi.

Coccinelle underwent gender-affirming surgery in 1958 with Dr. Georges Burou, one of the pioneers of sex reassignment surgery, and immediately became a media sensation. She became the first French trans woman to become a major star. Coccinelle married three times and established the right for trans women to marry in France. These images are from our copy of She-Male: The Amazing True-Life Story of Coccinelle by American "pulp sexologist" and diet-fad writer Carlson Wade (1928-1993), published in New York by Epic Publishing Co. in 1963. Not noted for being a reliable author, Wade's biography appears to be a plagiarized English version of the 1963 Coccinelle est lui by Coccinelle's second husband Mario Costa (they were married from 1963 until Costa's death in 1977). Wade's book focusses on Coccinelle's career, marriage to her first husband, French sports journalist Francis Bonnet (married 1960-1962), and her domestic life.

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[aristotletheaxolotl]

Two dads with their beautiful Pipis

[demoiseb]

[mariographique]

Savoir où se placer / Know where to stand par Mario Castonguay

Coccinelle sur une fleur captée au Jardin botanique de Montréal Ladybug on a flower captured at the Montreal Botanical Garden

[vuenville]

Photo credit David Cousin Marsy

[makingqueerhistory]

Queer history fact: Coccinelle(1931-2006) said:

“I was the first French person to have a sex-change. Incredible, but true. It meant I could no longer be arrested by the vice squad for impersonating a man.”

She was able to become one of the first transgender film actresses. She married a sports journalist named Francis Bonnet in 1960. Their church wedding made legal and religious history. She remembered her first marriage, saying:

"The only requirement was that I had to be baptised again as Jacqueline."

This was not just a personal development, though. It was one that opened the doors for all the transgender people who came after her. Though the two divorced shortly after, the impact of this wedding was not soon forgotten. Jacqueline would go on to marry two more times, her final husband being a fellow activist Thierry Wilson.

[cat-67]