Lili Elbe - Gender Identity

Gender Identity

It is believed that Elbe was probably intersexed; and may have had Klinefelter's Syndrome or some other SRY gene transfer condition. As most of the known intersex conditions were not formally identified until after Lili's death, it is difficult to be exact. She certainly had a feminine body and facial features that allowed her to pass as a young woman better than she passed as a man. When presenting in public as a man, she was often taken for a young woman masquerading as a man in trousers.

A Dresden doctor claimed to have noticed rudimentary ovaries and pre-operative blood tests indicated large amounts of female hormones at the expense of the male ones. During surgery, evidence of both male and female organs were found within her body.