Southern Starlet | Aleshia Brevard (1937-2017)| Not Just Cistory

When I discovered that the first ever Trans+ history week was happening from the 6th of May to the 12, I knew that I had write another blog post in my Not Just Cistory series to celebrate. I decided to research Aleishia Brevard since she was one of the first women I painted back in 2022.

There is a burgeoning list of transgender actresses playing transgender super heroes now, and it is ‘super’ inspiring to read about women like Nicole Maines, Ivory Aquino among others, and their new roles playing some absolutely fantastic characters (Rude, 2022). Representation of this caliber is still new to myself and to many others, and not something I at all take for granted.

However, there was another actress who, in the 1970s, starred in Legends of the Superheroes as Giganta, a nemesis of Wonder Woman’s who was transgender, and her name was Aleshia Brevard (IMDB).

Trans and queer representation is something that is becoming more and more common in our media. Representation in this sense means that there are characters in the media that are a part of the LGBT+ and are a part of the story. There is, of course, ‘good’ representation and ‘bad’ representation and those labels are just as subjective as anything else in this world.

Sometimes trans people themselves are considered representation, that their experiences, and lives can be a way for others to not feel so alone. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, finding community online, and in real life is a wonderful way for people to learn and grow and feel more comfortable in their own skin, but sometimes, the people who are being the representation can feel pigeon-holed into only being known as transgender.

Brevard herself discusses this in a 2013 interview with Windy City Times, saying:

I did not go through gender reassignment to be labeled transsexual. I look at that as an awkward phase that I went through—sort of like a really painful adolescence. I don't even think of myself now in terms as transsexual. That's something I experienced and [something] I was (Brevard, Waldron, 2017).

This is not an opinion, like any shared in this blog post, that is universal to the transgender community and is one that should be approached with context and nuance.

I am aware that me featuring a biographic blog post about Aleshia Brevard as part of a series called ‘Not Just Cistory; in celebration of Trans+ History Week is… ironic, to say the least. However, as always, I will try to share the story of her entire life, not just the details relating to her being transgender.

Early Life

Brevard was born in 1937 “ in Erwin, Tennessee, although she spent much of her childhood on a farm in Hartsville” (Nashville Queer History). She was aware of her desire to exist as female from an early age, saying “I would drape a white Cannon towel over my head and pretend to be [actress] Veronica Lake. But I kept all of that to myself because I truly believed that if anyone—my parents included—knew who I really was, that I would be given away” (Brevard, Waldron, 2017). She also prayed nightly to become the girl ‘she knew herself to be’ (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013).

Those around her seemed to sense her identity, and she was described as “an effeminate and artistic child. As a young child… strangers would frequently “mistake” her for a girl, or comment that she was “too pretty to be a boy.” As a colicky three-year-old, her grandfather had dressed her in a skirt with a red ribbon in her hair, christening her ‘Rosy’” (Shephard, 2017).

In 1952, while Brevard was in her teens, Christine Jorgensen’s story of her transition made national news (Shephard, 2017), and surely had to seem like a dream come true to Brevard, even if it probably seemed impossible to her.

A Life on the Stage

Brevard didn’t remain in Tennesse for much time beyond her adolescence, moving to San Fransisco at age 20, and began her work as an actress (Nashville Queer History). Her first job was as a female impersonator at the club Finnochio’s, where she was billed as a Marilyn Monroe look-alike (Brevard, Waldron, 2017).

This job was a space for the young Brevard to explore her identity as a woman. Despite her managers, and the owners of Finnochio’s promoting her as a Monroe impersonator, she insisted that she “was not doing Monroe; [she] was just learning to be [herself], and [she] was young… (Brevard, Waldron, 2017).

Aleshia was quite successful onstage as a Marilyn look-alike, so successful in fact, that in 1961 Monroe herself came to see her perform (Brevard, Waldron, 2005).

In an interview, Brevard, described this job as imperfect, stating that “the problem with Finocchio’s was that to me it did not feel like ‘impersonation'. At long last, I was presenting myself as the woman who had secretly lived sequestered away for far too many years” (Shephard). This is a theme I see in my research over and over again, spaces where traditional gender expression is not required, and it allows for freedom and personal understanding, a form of self-representation.

Transition

Brevard was introduced to Dr. Harry Benjamin, who was responsible for the gender-affirming surgery of Christine Jorgensen, through a mutual friend and Benjamin approved her for a sex-reassignment surgery, which she then underwent in 1962 (Nashville Public Library, 2019).

After her surgery,”[s]he returned to Hartsville to recover from surgery with help from her family, who were loving and accepting of her transition” (Nashville Queer History). She also took this time to transition into being a woman in all of her life beyond the stage, before venturing out into the world again (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013).

Becoming a Star

Having completed this medical component of her Transition that she had started socially years before, she decided to pursue acting as a career, once again. She initially “attended East Tennessee State University for art,” but eventually went on to “attend Middle Tennessee State University and earn a degree in theater, where she was named ‘Best Actress’ in 1967” (Nashville Queer History).

Brevard would continue to move back and forth between Appalachia, the eastern US, and California, working as a model, a stage actress, a star of the movie and television screens, even a Playboy Bunny, and in her later life, a professor (Shephard, 2017). Brevard was a woman of many talents and was able to utilize her acting skills in many mediums.

She performed in eight movies throughout this second career; The Love God, Big Foot, Hitched, The Female Bunch, Smokey and the Judge, The Man With Bogart’s Face, Hard Country, and “American Pop (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013). Brevard also acted in many television shows during her career, The Partridge Family, Night Gallery, and Legends of the Superheroes being some of them (IMDB).

When asked which of her roles were most satisfying for the actress, she mentions her theatrical roles, even noting that, in a full circle moment, she played Marilyn Monroe’s role in the stage version of The Seven Year Itch (Kowlska, 2013).

She evolved her career from acting to directing and teaching theater at East Tennessee State University, this was not an entirely planned transition, but one that came naturally to her after all of her time on stage (Brevard, Waldron, 2017). Directing was not a lesser profession for Brevard, she says that she “truly love[s] directing, perhaps more than [she] adore[d] being on stage…” (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013). This career evolution from actress to director and teacher mirrors her choice to step from being stealth to publishing two different memoirs about her transition and life as a transgender woman, which in a way, turned her into a mentor for generations of future transgender individuals.

Coming Out

Aleshia lived most of her life in stealth, meaning that she did not advertise that she was transgender. She explained that this was for multiple reasons, one being that there was no real transgender community in Hollywood at the time (Brevard, Waldron, 2017). Having a support network and community is such an important part of not just survival for Trans people, but also thriving and living within a society that is oftentimes hostile to us.

She also had concerns about her professional life that encouraged discretion and her choice to be ‘stealth’ she explained that she “just wanted to compete on equal footing with other women…. I just wanted to act without labels” (Brevard, Waldron, 2017). Choosing to not disclose her transgender identity (Though I am not sure she would have phrased it exactly like that) allowed her to be seen for her merits and skills at a time when she would not have otherwise been.

She described the common thinking for trans women of the time as “to move forward, as seamlessly as possible, easing into mainstream society to live as our authentic selves… to live among, work alongside, and compete on an equal footing with other women, including those who had been born female (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013). While it is far more common now for transgender individuals to be open about their ‘transness’ (for lack of a better term), this is a sentiment shared by many transgender individuals still today and is an intensely personal one to make regardless of the decision made.

After her career as a director, Brevard moved to California, began teaching as a high school art teacher (Can you imagine having a movie star as an art teacher?), and began to work on her first memoir (Brevard, Waldron, 2017). This first book was titled ‘Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey’* and focused on “the early years and ends with the death of [her] mother in 1982. It was [her] mother’s death, and the absence of her ongoing support, that forced [Brevard] to find [her] own footing in life. (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013)

Upon publication, Brevard was stepping away from living her life in stealth, into the early 2000s online transgender community. She described the experience, saying “because I had lived in stealth, I had no idea about transgender becoming the umbrella term. When I published the book, I was absolutely shocked that I was spread all over the internet” (Brevard, Waldron, 2017).

On the the sequel, ‘The Woman I WAS Born to Be’, Brevard explained that she “had no intention of writing a sequel. [She] soon realized, however, that life had indeed gone on; the second half of [her] life had allowed many of Mozelle’s dreams for my future to come true. That struck me as much more important than the angst and early trauma that had gotten [her] there” (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013).

In the end “[t]he sequel, ‘WAS Born To Be’ [was her] favorite book, in that it chronicles a much happier and more fulfilling aspect of [her] life (Brevard, Kowalska, 2013), which is a wonderful example of how it does get better, even if it isn’t exactly the way we expected it to be.

Conclusion

Brevard passed away on July first, 2017, at the age of 79, from pulmonary fibrosis (Whiting, 2017) leaving behind a long list of film, television, and theatre credits, as well as many students whom she guided, as a theater professor, director, and art teacher. Not to mention all of the trans individuals who were, are, and will be inspired by her memoirs, and her story.

She is a wonderful example that anyone can be a superhero and that we all deserve to see ourselves in the world, and the media we consume. A talented actress, and devoted mother and teacher, Aleshia was able to create a space for herself in the world where she was valued and respected for her talents, not seen for the anatomy she had at any given point in her life.

Transgender individuals are able more now to exist openly and still be regarded for their skills and actions, but it is still so common for society to see the label ‘trans’ and just stop perceiving us, substituting stereotypes and preconceived notions for our personalities and skills.

This is a big part of why I live openly as a transgender individual, and create these biographic blog posts. It’s important to me that I share our history, curate and create that representation so that everyone, from widely openly transgender to completely stealth can have a form of representation in their lives that they may not have had otherwise.

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Bibliography

Aleshia Brevard. Nashville Queer History. (2021, November 3). https://nashvillequeerhistory.org/glossary-main/aleshia-brevard/

Brevard, A., & Kowalska, M. (2013, January 25). Interview with Aleshia Brevard. The Heroines of My Life. other. Retrieved May 10, 2024,. Parts 1, 1 continued, and 5

Brevard, A., & Waldron, T.-L. (2017, April 5). Actress reflects on transitioning, Marilyn Monroe connection. Windy City Times. other. Retrieved May 10, 2024,.

IMDb.com. (n.d.). Aleshia Brevard | Actress, additional crew. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108087/

Other hidden figures: Aleshia Brevard. Nashville Public Library. (2019, April 13). https://library.nashville.org/blog/2019/04/other-hidden-figures-aleshia-brevard

Rude, M. (2022, March 30). 6 trans & nonbinary characters in DC TV shows & movies. Out Magazine. https://www.out.com/television/2022/3/09/trans-and-nonbinary-characters-dc-comics-dceu-tv-shows-and-movies#rebelltitem1

Shepard, N. (2017, November 19). A Tennessee trans icon comes home: Remembering Aleshia Brevard. Spectrum South - The Voice of the Queer South. https://www.spectrumsouth.com/tennessee-trans-icon-comes-home-remembering-aleshia-brevard/

Whiting, S. (2017, July 24). Aleshia Brevard, SF drag star and transgender pioneer, dies at 79. SFGate. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Aleshia-Brevard-SF-drag-star-and-transgender-11344975.php

Mother of Multiplayer | Danielle Bunten Berry (1949- 1998): Not Just Cistory

I am often momentarily convinced by the narrative continually being forced upon us by angry gamer bros, that gaming has always been an entirely male industry, only recently opening its gates to women, but, despite what the trolls and misogynists say in the comments section, that simply isn’t true. In 1964, the first narrative video game was written by a woman; Mabel Addis, a teacher who wanted her students to be more engaged in her lessons on ancient Sumeria (Wilaret, 2019).   

From there, women’s involvement in gaming only grew. It is estimated that, in 1989, a mere 3% of video game developers were women, and in 2013 it was 12% (Gracer, 2013). Flash-forward to the year 2021 and Statistica says that 30% of game developers are women (and 8% are nonbinary, gender fluid/genderqueer, two-spirited, or transgender) (Clement, 2023). Suffice it to say that women have always been a part of creating video games, even if at a minuscule percentage. 

In 1989 Danielle Bunten Berry’s game M.U.L.E had already been published for six years, she was three years away from coming out publicly as a woman and beginning her transition, and eighteen years away from (post-humously) being added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (Costikyan, 2023). 

Berry is far from being the only transgender woman to help shape video games into what they are. She is in the company of other talented individuals such as Veda Hlubinka-Cook, Cathryn Mataga, Rebecca Heineman, and Jamie Fenton (Johnson, 2021), but she is the subject of our focus for this entry into the Not Just Cistory series

Early Life

Danielle Bunten Berry was born “February 19, 1949, in St. Louis, Missouri… [the first] of six children” (Costikyan, 2023). Danielle and her family moved to “Little Rock [Arkansas] in 1965, and Bunten lived in and around Little Rock until the last years of her life, when she moved to Palo Alto, California” (Costikyan, 2023).

Even during her childhood, games were an important part of Danielle’s life. In an interview, she states “When I was a kid the only times my family spent together that weren't totally dysfunctional were when we were playing games” (Hague, 1997). She goes on to explain how this influenced her philosophy when creating games, saying “Consequently I believe games are a wonderful way to socialize” (Hague, 1997). This philosophy is evident in across her career and has left an indelible mark on gaming as a whole.

As a teen and young adult “Bunten worked at a drugstore and as an assistant scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop to provide extra money [to support her family]. Bunten graduated from Catholic High School for Boys” in Little Rock (Costikyan, 2023). 

A potent combination of intelligent and enterprising, “In 1971, Bunten opened a bicycle shop, the Highroller Cyclerie, near the University of Arkansas… and received a degree in industrial engineering from UA in 1974. Bunten’s first job involved doing mathematical modeling of urban systems for the National Science Foundation” (Costikyan, 2023).

Entering the Game Designing World

Right from the start of her game developer career, Bunten was an innovator, her “first game, 1978’s ‘Wheeler Dealers,’ [sic] was the first personal computer game that was packaged in a printed box, and one of the first — if not the first — computer games that allowed for more than two players” (Koon, 2012). 

Her innovative spirit and philosophy of communal gaming were evident, as “the game shipped with four custom-built controllers made from red wooden macrame beads with a single button glued into one end, which players used to make stock-market-like trades while competing against one another” (Koon, 2012).

She continued on her entrepreneurial path, when “in 1979, Bunten partnered with her brother and a few friends to found the game company Ozark Software [sic]. The group ran the organization from Bunton’s [sic] basement…” (AtariWomen).

A Cult Classic and Rockstar Status

The company began to take off when “[i]n 1982, Bunten was selected by Electronic Arts (EA), a recently founded company, as one of a handful of ‘electronic artists’ it published, and Ozark developed five games for EA over the next few years” (Costikyan, 2023).

One of the games that Bunten Berry was tasked to write for EA was M.U.L.E, which would become the cult classic she is most known for (Hague, 1997). Released in:

[1983, it is], a turn-based strategy game that could accommodate up to four players at the same console. An exercise in supply and demand economics, the game forces the players, who represent settlers on the planet of Irata, to compete over food, energy, and mineral resources (Costikyan, 2023).

M.U.L.E is sometimes considered to be a monetary failure, but in a 1997 interview Bunten Berry disagreed, saying:

given some caveats, it didn't do all that badly. It sold 30,000 copies, and for a game whose home platform–the Atari 800–went out of production just months after its release, that ain't bad. Also, although we ported it to the C64 it had a very poor solo capability but still sold good numbers there too (Hague, 1997)

Proving that she and her design company were not just one-hit-wonders, Ozark Softscape’s next game Seven Cities of Gold did even better, selling five times as many copies (Koon, 2012). Ozark Softscape and Danielle Bunten Berry had made their mark on the gaming industry, even if it wasn’t initially evident. 

EA, however, seemed to sense this (or maybe they just wanted to broaden their market, by making gaming look cool), treating Danielle Bunten Berry and her colleagues almost like rockstars:

a famous publicity shot of the Ozark Softscape team created for EA shows programmers Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, Alan Watson and Dan[i] Bunten lounging picturesquely on a bench with a dog while a hot blonde sips a drink nearby, the four looking decidedly more like Lynyrd Skynyrd than a bunch of game geeks (Koon 2012).

Leaving EA

However, this honeymoon phase/world tour couldn’t continue forever. After creating several games for the company “Ozark and EA fell out over a new version of M.U.L.E. and EA’s insistence that it include combat, which Bunten felt was a betrayal of the game’s intent and aesthetic” (Costikyan, 2023).

Ozark Softscape did go on to create two more game titles, now working with Micropose, but they never did recreate the monetary success of their earlier titles, particularly Seven Cities of Gold (Koon, 2012). Melanie Bunten Stark, Danielle’s eldest, says that money was never the goal for her, she was in it for the love of the game (Koon, 2012). (Okay that was a dumb joke, but I just watched the first episode of Fallout, bear with me.)

Becoming Ms. Danielle Berry

In 1992, after the end of her third marriage, Danielle announced to people in both her personal and professional life, that she was a woman, and was beginning her transition (Costikyan, 2023). Danielle described Transition as “the name given to the time when your old pronoun doesn't fit anymore but neither does the new one” (Hague, 1997). In November of that year, she underwent gender-affirming surgery, which was, at the time called sex-reassignment surgery (Costikyan, 2023).

Another thing that was changed by her transition, was Bunten Berry’s involvement in the video game industry. In 1997 she described her new life and new priorities:

I'm a little more than three years into my new life role as Ms. Danielle Berry, and her career looks to be somewhat different from old Mr. Dan Bunten's. For one thing I'm not as good a programmer as he was. I'm also not as willing to sit for hours in front of a computer to make something that other people can use to socialize. I tend to need to socialize far more often than he did. Thus, I do design and consulting rather than programming and development. However, with my background I seem uniquely suited to this business so I think I'll stay around in one form or another for as long as they'll have me (Hague).

End of Life

Around the time of the publication of what would end up being her final game, Warsport, for MPath, an online gaming publisher, Bunten Berry was diagnosed with lung cancer, which would eventually kill her (Koon, 2012). 

In May of the following year, she was honored with an award for lifetime achievement from the Computer Game Developers Association. Two months later Danielle Bunten Berry passed away at the age of 49 on July 3, 1998(Koon, 2012). 

This award, given mere weeks before her death was not the last she would receive; indeed in 2007, she was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (Costikyan, 2023).

Conclusion

However, her impact, in my opinion, is more deeply felt in the world of gaming today, than in any (well-deserved) award she received before or after her death. She has inspired developers like Will Wright, original designer of the Sims franchise, as well as Sid Meier, designer of the Civilization games (Costikyan, 2023), as well as multiplayer games at large.

She really was the mother of multiplayer. Not that someone else couldn’t have come up with what she did, but she did. It was her boundless creativity and ingenuity that started the evolution of what would become a core part of video games today.

Her belief that video games could be just as social as the board games she treasured with her family changed the trajectory of the industry in ways any other developer might not have, had they pioneered the radical idea of multiplayer instead.

Trans women and cis women have always been a part of gaming, even if their identities have been unknown to the public, and it is foolish to assume otherwise. Games have always been for whoever wants to play, and their creation is the same.

Bibliography

Atari. (2019, March 6). Danielle Bunten Berry. atariwomen. https://www.atariwomen.org/stories/danielle-bunten-berry/ 

Clement, J. (2023, December 12). Global Game Developer Gender 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/453634/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide/ 

Costikyan, G. (2023, September 7). Danielle Bunten Berry (1949–1998). Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/danielle-bunten-berry-4524/ 

Graser, M. (2013, October 1). Videogame biz: Women still very much in the minority. Variety. https://variety.com/2013/digital/features/womengamers1200683299-1200683299/ 

Hague, J. (n.d.). Danielle Berry. In Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. interview, Dadgum Games. Retrieved from https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BERRY.HTM. 

Johnson, S. (2021, May 30). Seven trailblazing LGBT+ pioneers who helped to shape video gaming as we know it. PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/05/30/lgbt-video-game-pioneers-david-gaider-danielle-bunten-berry-gaming/ 

Koon, D. (2019, April 26). Dani Bunten changed video games forever. Arkansas Times. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2012/02/08/dani-bunten-changed-video-games-forever?oid=2059426 

Willaert, “Critical Kate.” (2022, November 25). The Sumerian game: The most important video game you’ve never heard of. A Critical Hit! https://www.acriticalhit.com/sumerian-game-most-important-video-game-youve-never-heard/

The Vedette | Vanessa Show: Not Just Cistory

It’s become a tradition of mine over the past few years to paint portraits of transgender women from throughout history for Women’s History Month, which has evolved into my Not just Cistory series, where I share my paintings and do more research into the lives of my subjects, and then write it all up to share with all of you here. This entry is about a 20th century star whose career spanned the stage, the screen, and the world; Vanessa Show.

Early Life and Adolescence

Vanessa Show was born in La Banda, Santiago del Estero, on September 27, 1950 (2023, Montagna) to an Arabic family of ranchers and butchers. In an interview with Pagina 12’s Juan Tauil, Show explained that her grandfather was from Alexandria and her grandmother was Moroccan (2009).

Her parents separated when she was a teen, she was disinherited, and she moved to Buenos Aires (Tauil, 2009). She did not have a good relationship with her parents, particularly her father, and was not sad to leave them behind (infobae, 2017).

Show was always open about her sexuality, even as a child, effecting a sort of ‘deal with it’ attitude describing it in the Pagina 12 interview in this way, and also emphasizing that she demanded respect from her family, regardless of their opinions (Tauil, 2009).

A Career in the Spotlight

She started working at age fifteen as a dishwasher and a cook, before finally appearing onstage as a dancer at age seventeen, at the Teatro Maipo (Tauil, 2009).

She was given the name ‘Vanessa’ by Eber Lobato, and the last name ‘Show’ by a journalist who commented on her giving quite a show during her performance. She continued working for Lobato for a number of years (Tauil, 2009).

Vanessa Show was a vedette; similar to a burlesque dancer. She performed with many other dancers and performers who were very well-known at the time, and she became famous in her own right (Montagna, 2023). Before donning the name ‘Vanessa Show’ she was called ‘Señor Vedette’ by the press (Torchia, 2018).

Show was also a part of ‘La Revista del tercer sexo’ the first company made up entirely of transvestites (Tauil, 2009). (A note: translation here is imperfect (at least, more than usual) as the Spanish word ‘travestis’ can mean both ‘transvestites’ (an outdated term on its own), or drag queens, so I am unclear as to which is meant here, but I don’t think the lack specificity is necessarily a bad thing.)

Her life in Europe

Show spent a lot of time in Europe; both for her successful international tour, performing in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and, later, as an exile from Argentina (Montagna, 2023). While in Europe she was confronted with the hierarchy and competition of the European drag community and decided that she was going to stand up for herself as an artist and as a person (Torchia, 2018).

After her European tour, she came home to Argentina and resumed work at the club Hidrogen, experienced run-ins with the police, and received continual harassment from the government, she was even called a ‘sexual terrorist’ (Tauil, 2009).

She decided to return to Europe due to the militaristic governments that were in power in Argentina, and the growing threats she received, choosing to travel and work abroad (infobae, 2017).

She returned to Argentina in the 1990s and performed in films and was featured on television (Montanga, 2023). She also wrote her autobiography, titled ‘es Verdad’, or ‘The Truth’ in 2012 (Torchia, 2018).

Life as an Icon

In recent years Show had become a sort of beloved mother figure for the drag and trans communities of Argentina, discussing her role in/relationship with the queer community in a 2018 Pagina 12 interview with Franco Torchia.

She said that young drag queens and trans individuals would flock to her and that she was thrilled with the burgeoning community of drag queens, and the sense of comradery that was not present in the communities she was a part of in her youth (Torchia, 2018).

Show passed away in September of 2023 at the Providencia Sanatorium in Buenos Aires at the age of 72 (Montagna).

Conclusion

Vanessa Show was a confident woman who was determined to chase her dream and be successful in the way that she deemed correct for her own life. Being transgender often comes with a set of challenges that can seem insurmountable. It is refreshing and heartening to learn about the story of a trans woman who was able to make her own way.

Granted, everyone has their own experiences and challenges that are unique to them, she admits in the Pagina 12 article with Jaun Tauil that both her lighter skin tone and beauty allowed her to travel more freely through Europe and around the world than she might have been otherwise (2009).

Privileges and challenges considered (but not set aside), Show is an example of a woman who took no shit and expected the world to respect her for who she was. She was a trailblazer and is a reason why the drag community in Argentina is the way it is. She created an example of how a trans woman could live as herself and create space for that life, as well as the lives of others.

Bibliography

Note: All sources are in Spanish and have been translated to English for this blog post by me.

Infobae. (2017, November 13). Vannesa show: “Un día quise matar a mi padre.” infobae. https://www.infobae.com/2012/04/29/644878-vannesa-show-un-dia-quise-matar-mi-padre/

LA NACION. (2023, September 18). Murió Vanessa show, La Primera Vedette trans de la argentina. LA NACION. https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/personajes/murio-vanessa-show-la-primera-vedette-trans-de-la-argentina-tenia-72-anos-nid15092023/

Tauil, R., & Show, V. (2009, April 17). Señora Show. Pagina 12. other. Retrieved March 7, 2024,. https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/soy/1-701-2009-04-17.html

Torchia, F., & Show, V. (2018, February 2). Mostra Show. Pagina 12. other. Retrieved March 7, 2024,. https://www.pagina12.com.ar/92795-mostra-show

Success and Souffle | Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886- 1954): Not Just Cistory

Our first entry for the Not Just Cistory series is an entrepreneur and a businesswoman, who became famous across the United States during the first half of the twentieth century, for her business skills, her ability to host a party, and her fashion sense.

Early Life

Lucy Hicks Anderson né Lawson was born in “Waddy, Kentucky in 1886” (Keehnen & Salvo) and was adamant that she was a girl from birth, insisting that she wore dresses to school. Her doctor advised her mother to let her live as a girl, as it was obvious that she was in fact, a girl. Lucy received the support of her family and was able to live nearly her entire life as her true self. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

Based on the 1900 census, Lucy spent her early years working for the Waddy family before moving away from home at age 15 (Keehnen & Salvo). During her travels, she met the man who would become her first husband; “Clarence Hicks, in New Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Entrepreneurial Success

She settled in the small town of Oxnard California in Ventura County, the home of a “major sugar factory that attracted blue-collar workers from the surrounding areas in Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Noticing a gap in the market, Lucy started “the only house of prostitution in Oxnard” (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

During this time she was also “a renowned chef and hostess for wealthy families throughout her community” (Walker, 2018). She was a fantastic cook and was able to use this to traverse racial and gender lines in the community (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

A 1945 article after Lucy Hicks Anderson was outed notes her skills as a chef: “By the time she opened her first house of prostitution, off Oxnard's crib-bordered China Alley, her genius in the kitchen was the talk of the town” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945). Even in ‘disgrace’ the society of the time was singing the praises of her cooking, a skill associated with women.

The Heart of a Community

She also remarried in 1944, to “a soldier named Ruben Anderson” (Coren & Snorton, 2022). During this period of the late thirties and early forties, Hicks Anderson’s business flourished and her scope of services spread. As time passed, she became more and more a part of the community, and:

tended children, helped dress many an Oxnard daughter for parties. The town thought little of seeing fat and prosperous Oxnard dames driving to Lucy's house to borrow one of her legendary recipes. When a new Catholic priest came to town, Lucy prepared the barbecue with which the parish welcomed him” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945).

She was a beloved member of the community, and quite famous for her hosting skills and her fashion, being written about both in multiple magazines, one being Time magazine (Coren & Snorton, 2022). Her community also knew her from her generous “donations to charities such as the Red Cross and Boy Scouts” (Walker, 2018).

She was also a great supporter of the soldiers of the Second World War and their families. She bought war bonds, threw going away parties for soldiers, and consoled the parents of the ones who did not return home (Walker, 2018).

Betrayal by Her Community

Months after her second marriage, “in August 1945, an outbreak of venereal disease was said to have come from Hicks' establishment; Lucy and all of her employees had to be examined by a doctor” which led to her being outed as a ‘man’ (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

Lucy was charged with perjury; the rationale being that she signed her marriage certificate that stated she was a woman, which was, in the court’s eyes, untrue (Notable Kentucky African Americans Database).

The prosecution provided “five doctors to testify to her legal gender, to the gender that she was assigned at birth”. Meanwhile, “Lucy's lawyers argued that she had hidden [female] organs”, within her body, and was truly a woman. “Ultimately, the jury returned a verdict of guilty… Her sentence, a small fine and 10 years probation” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

As news spread about the discovery of the genitalia present at Lucy’s birth, both she and her husband were brought up on federal charges:

Ruben Anderson was facing a maximum of 10 years in a federal prison, and a top fine of 10,000, because he had the government send his wife $950 in allotment checks… The US Army argued that she was not legally married to her husband, since same sex marriage was illegal. And the US government didn't recognize that Lucy, being a trans woman, was a woman. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

These charges were truly what pushed Lucy Hicks Anderson out of the life she had built for herself.

The federal courts they were "both found guilty. The court invalidated their marriage, and Ruben was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lucy was sentenced to a year in prison at Leavenworth Penitentiary, a men's facility” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

After finishing her sentence, Lucy Hicks Anderson left her business and her community, as “Oxnard also banned the couple for 10 years, so they took up residency in Los Angeles as husband and wife, where Lucy lived until her death in 1954” (Walker, 2018).

Conclusion

This story of success, and then the betrayal of the community that loved her, is a testament to the fact that not only transwomen have always existed, but that they can be successful, even if the community that benefits from them does not always support them entirely.

The arguments by both her lawyers, and that of the opposition show just how imbedded the idea of genitalia and physical form equalling gender is in American Society.

A woman can perform all of femininity perfectly, be an amazing cook and hostess, have flawless fashion, and be featured in Time magazine for it, not to mention being a generous benefactor to a community that loved her in response, and still be disqualified from the title of ‘woman’ for the fact that she does not have the appropriate formulation of reproductive organs.

However, Lucy Hicks Anderson’s refusal to hide away and present herself as who society wanted her to be also reminds me of the resistance that can be found in joy and being oneself. Lucy did not hide away, she simply moved to another place where she could live happily, and sometimes that's all we can do; move on, and be happy when and where we can.

This piece of art is available on my store and is a 6 x 9 inch gouache portrait. A portion of the proceeds of this piece will be donated to charity.

Bibliography

CALIFORNIA: sin & souffl [sic]. (1945, November 5). Time Magazine, XLVI(19). Retrieved January 11, 2024, from https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,852379,00.html.

Coren, A., & Snorton, C. R. (2022, November 30). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Sidedoor. , Smithsonian. Retrieved January 11, 2024,.

Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]. Omeka RSS. (n.d.). https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1363

Keehnen, O. (n.d.). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Legacy Project Chicago. https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/lucy-hicks-anderson

Walker, M. (2018, February 21). Highlight: Lucy Hicks Anderson, a Black Trans Pioneer. ACLU of Mississippi. https://www.aclu-ms.org/en/news/highlight-lucy-hicks-anderson-black-trans-pioneer