Agnes (case study) explained

Agnes is the pseudonym given to a transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel's research in the early 1960s, making her the first subject of an in-depth discussion of transgender identity in sociology.^[1] She is the subject of a 2018 documentary short and a 2022 documentary, both titled Framing Agnes.^{[2] [3]}

Early life

Agnes was born in 1939 and assigned male at birth. She was the youngest of four children. Her mother worked in an aircraft plant; her machinist father died when she was eight. Agnes was raised Catholic, but stopped believing in God when she was older.^[4] From the age of twelve, she took her mother's post-hysterectomy estrogen pills and feminized her body.^[5]

In 1958 she was working as a typist for an insurance company, and had a boyfriend. She resisted his desire for intercourse and marriage, leading to a series of quarrels before she disclosed her details to him. Their relationship continued.^[6]

Appearance

When Garfinkel first met Agnes, she possessed physiology typically associated with the social categories of "male" and "female" at the same time. She had a penis and testicles as well as secondary female characteristics such as breasts. Garfinkel stated:

Further reading

• Schilt, Kristen (2016). "The Importance of Being Agnes". Symbolic Interaction. 39 (2): 287–294. ISSN 0195-6086.
• Schwabe . A.D. . Solomon . David H. . Stoller . Robert J. . Robert Stoller . Burnham . John P. . 1 August 1962 . Pubertal Feminization in a Genetic Male with Testicular Atrophy and Normal Urinary Gonadotropin . . 22 . 8 . 0021-972X . 10.1210/jcem-22-8-839 . 839–845. 13909639 .

Notes and References

1. Connell . Raewyn . Accountable Conduct: "Doing Gender" in Transsexual and Political Retrospect . Gender & Society . February 2009 . 23 . 1 . 104–111 . 10.1177/0891243208327175. 144915358 .
2. Web site: Goldberg . RL . April 26, 2019 . Reframing Agnes . . November 5, 2019.
3. News: Sharp . Morgan . January 31, 2022 . Toronto filmmaker Chase Joynt on framing Agnes . .
4. Book: Garfinkel . Harold . Studies in Ethnomethodology . 1967 . Prentice Hall . New Jersey . 119.
5. Book: Susan Stryker . Stephen Whittle . The Transgender Studies Reader . 2013 . Routledge . 9780415636957 . 90 . English . she revealed that she had never had a biological defect that had feminised her but that she had been taking estrogens since age 12.
6. Book: Garfinkel . Harold . Studies in Ethnomethodology . 1967 . Prentice Hall . New Jersey . 120-121.