‘Now I Have Found Myself, and I Am Happy’: Marta Olmos, Sex Reassignment, the Media and Mexico on a Global Stage, 1952–7

Abstract

In May 1954, the story broke internationally of Marta Olmos, recipient of the first widely known, male-to-female sex reassignment conducted in Mexico. Her doctor, Rafael Sandoval Camacho, claimed that homosexuality could be cured and that, through transitions, queer Mexicans could be made into ‘socially useful’ citizens. While initially celebrated as a scientific triumph placing Mexico among elite nations, and receiving support from individuals close to the Ruiz Cortines administration, opinions soured as critics – physicians, politicians, cartoonists and clerics – condemned Marta for renouncing manhood through a fraudulent cure that threatened the binary sex/gender order underpinning Mexican nationalism. Sex reassignment, understood through foreigners including Christine Jorgensen and associated with ‘anti-social’ queer Mexicans, thus exemplified misplaced priorities during a period in which the state sought to ‘modernise patriarchy’. While self-affirming for Marta and permitted unofficially through state indifference, sex reassignment became seen as anti-Mexican. Thus, Marta's case illuminated how the state reconciled development with policing its patriarchal order.

Defeating the ‘social danger’ of homosexuality while ‘forging the fatherland’: Sexual science and biotypology in Mexico’s national development, 1927–57

“…Instead, it is important to consider how they negotiated status and expressed agency within prevention-oriented systems of domination; many, it seems, manipulated options when possible. Marta-who embraced international celebrity as a blonde bombshell, said she had 'found herself', and expressed happiness-is the clearest example (Jones, 2023). Glimmers can also be seen among youths, who should be understood as historical agents, not just victims (Sosenski, 2010(Sosenski, : 1231.…”

“…Influential collaborators including Quiroz remained silent instead of rebutting criticism. Perhaps most importantly, support endangered a useful mid-century political alliance between church and state (Jones, 2023). And, in critics' neo-Lamarckian-influenced, eugenicist thinking, reorientation during youth might have prevented Marta's deviance, rendering surgery unnecessary, while also mitigating other negative consequences.…”

“…Tabloid La Prensa, for instance, lamented that had Jorge only oriented toward women, he could have lived normally and prevented an admirer's suicide ('El hombre vuelto mujer anhela su hogar ', 1954: cover, 2, 12). Many critics, conflating (homo)sexuality with desires to be a woman, also worried transitions would become too popular and lead to demographic imbalances (Jones, 2023). While Millán had argued homosexuals would not change voluntarily, reactions to Marta revealed concerns that they would all want to transition into women, not become 'normal' men.…”

“…Officials ultimately remained ambivalent, rejecting transitions as generally applied, normativizing processes but accepting their value for individual cases of indeterminate sex. They permitted locals and foreigners to receive clandestine operations, thereby acknowledging Mexican scientific prowess, but withheld public support (Jones, 2023).…”

“…However, critics soon called Sandoval’s intervention drastic, incomplete, and fraudulent—to them, it spread ‘perversion’, rather than curing it. As a result, most Mexicans across the political spectrum rejected transitions for rehabilitating queer adults (Jones, 2023).…”