Coccinelle - the woman with the first widely publicized SRS

[Tomfurbs]

Thankyou Wiki:

"Coccinelle (23 August 1931—9 October 2006) was the stage name for Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy, a French transsexual actress and entertainer. Hers was the first widely publicized sexual reassignment case in Europe, where she was a national celebrity and a renowned club singer

Born in Paris, she took the stage name Coccinelle (French for ladybug) when she entered show business, making her debut as a transgender showgirl in 1953 at Chez Madame Arthur. She later became a fixture at the famous nightclub Le Carrousel de Paris, which also featured regular acts by other famous transsexuals such as April Ashley. In 1958, she traveled to Casablanca to undergo a vaginoplasty by Dr. Georges Burou.

Coccinelle also worked extensively as an activist on behalf of transgendered people, founding the organization "Devenir Femme", which was designed to provide emotional and practical support for those seeking sexual reassignment surgery. She also helped establish the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity. In addition, her first marriage (she had three husbands total) was the first transsexual union to be officially acknowledged by the state of France, establishing transgendered persons' legal right in that country to marry. [4] Her 1987 autobiography Coccinelle was brought out by Daniel Filipacchi. [5] Coccinelle was hospitalized in July 2006 following a stroke and died that October at Marseille.'


She seemed like a cool lady. Must have taken balls of steel (haw haw no pun intended) to do what she did back in the fifties - kudos.

R.I.P

[Rod la Rod]

A classic beauty like a TS Bridgette Bardot.

Check out the official website. It has many amazing photos.

http://www.coccinelleshow.com/

[peggygee]

Quite the lady, and a class act.

8)

[irishgirl]

What's so tragic is that after her SRS the doctors told her she didn't need to take estrogen anymore - she basicly had menopause in her late 20's. Due to osteoperosis she broke many bones throughout her life.

[Tomfurbs]

Wow, didn't know that. The medical advice must have been pretty non-existent back then for her situation.

[Rod la Rod]

Coccinelle, Bambi, Capucine, April Ashley and the other FIs of Madame Arthur and Le Carousel in Paris. Some great photos of some amazing beauties of the 1960's.

http://www.queermusicheritage.us/nov2002e.html

http://www.queermusicheritage.us/fem-lac.html

http://www.queermusicheritage.us/index2.html

[Ecstatic]

Kudos to Coccinelle, who was a pioneer and deserves to be remembered with honor and respect. However, she was not the first widely-publicized SRS; that title belongs to Christine Jorgensen, who had her SRS in 1952, and who fortunately was also the first post-op transwoman to receive hormonal treatment (unlike Coccinelle, sadly).

When Christine returned to NYC on Feb 12, 1953, she was greeted by over 300 reporters. She made the New York Daily News front page on Dec 1, 1952, with the headline: "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty: Operations Transform Bronx Youth." While she had previously been shy and would have preferred to stay out of the limelight, she soon embraced her celebrity, putting together a popular nightclub act starting in 1953 that she toured into the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, as she was older and society was beginning to embrace alternative lifestyles, she became a popular speaker on gender issues on the college circuit. Unfortunately, she died of bladder cancer in 1989.

[sirmartinfrobisher]

Coccinelle was beautiful, I bought her autobiography in a sex shop in Birmingham many years ago but it was paperback and the pages sort of got worn out and stuck together.
April Ashley worked with her at the Carrousel and talks about their days there in her autobiography, google it, the whole book is online. You will also learn that another very famous person worked with them, namely the singer Amanda Lear, here's her wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Lear
You will find that Amanda had relationships with some very, very famous people in the Music World and was even engaged to one of them!

[Tomfurbs]

Jesus, I've looked up Amanda Lear, and noone knows whether she was transgendered or not. Some say it was a massive hoax cooked up by her and Salvador Dali, while others say she was definitely a transwoman. Too confusing for my little brain. Not that it matters ultimately

Anyway, all these folk lived full lives and are an inspiration to us all...

[AllanahStarrNYC]

Kudos to Coccinelle, who was a pioneer and deserves to be remembered with honor and respect. However, she was not the first widely-publicized SRS; that title belongs to Christine Jorgensen, who had her SRS in 1952, and who fortunately was also the first post-op transwoman to receive hormonal treatment (unlike Coccinelle, sadly).

When Christine returned to NYC on Feb 12, 1953, she was greeted by over 300 reporters. She made the New York Daily News front page on Dec 1, 1952, with the headline: "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty: Operations Transform Bronx Youth." While she had previously been shy and would have preferred to stay out of the limelight, she soon embraced her celebrity, putting together a popular nightclub act starting in 1953 that she toured into the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, as she was older and society was beginning to embrace alternative lifestyles, she became a popular speaker on gender issues on the college circuit. Unfortunately, she died of bladder cancer in 1989.

Coccinelle was the FIRST SRS using the modern penile inversion technique

[sirmartinfrobisher]

Jesus, I've looked up Amanda Lear, and noone knows whether she was transgendered or not. Some say it was a massive hoax cooked up by her and Salvador Dali, while others say she was definitely a transwoman. Too confusing for my little brain. Not that it matters ultimately

Anyway, all these folk lived full lives and are an inspiration to us all...

But all the transgender people in the wiki, with no hidden agenda, say that she worked with them and was a boy/man!

[Tomfurbs]

well, that's not totally true but you seem to know more about this so I'll agree with you man :)

[Rod la Rod]

I am pretty sure that Amanda Lear was a well known FI in the late 60's and 70's in Europe.

[Ecstatic]

Coccinelle was the FIRST SRS using the modern penile inversion technique
Point taken, seeing as Jorgensen's initial operation in Denmark was basically the prep work to remove her penis and reconstruct her genitals to create a feminine appearance, including shaping the labia. That means she did not have a penis to invert when she completed her vaginoplasty, which she had done in a New Jersey hospital in 1954 (with follow-up work done at Johns Hopkins and I believe in Copenhagen).