Magnus Hirschfeld: A Portrait of a Pioneer in Sexology

by Charlotte Wolff

Introduction & Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Author's Note
Childhood & Student Days
The Humanitarian Physician
Research & Social Work
The Harden Process
Hirschfeld & the Women's Movement
Progress in Work
Ever Wider Horizons
War & Peace
The Institute for Sexual Science
The Sociological Reformer
The Soviet Influence
The Genesis of the World League for Sexual Reform
The Development of the World League for Sexual Reform
The World Journey: From the U.S.A. to Ceylon
The World Journey: From India to Palestine
Exile in Central Europe
In Exile in Paris & Nice
Memories of Hirschfeld's Contemporaries
Appendix: The Petition to the Reichstag
The Constitution of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee Programme of the London Congress of the World League for Sexual Reform
Select Bibliographies
Index

Genres: Biography, LGBT

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful look at the life and work of a man who has shaped sexual thought and terminology, inspiring countless others to do so as well, although his name is too often forgotten. Charlotte Wolff gives the reader a chance to know Magnus Hirschfeld as a person, his dreams, his kindness, his drive, his naivety, his love for Karl Giese and Tao Li, his formation of an institute which became an oasis for many a lost soul and the inspiration for many a forward thinker, such as Margaret Sanger. Readers get to travel the world with him, visiting the intellectuals of the United States, Japan, China, and India, as well as his native Germany before the shadow of World War II fell over all of these nations. We experience a taste of the intellectual and creative life which was part of Weimar Germany before the Nazis smothered it with a terrifying ignorance which is only too current. The strengths and weakness in Hirschfeld and his developing philosphies are explored as well in these pages, with the biographer herself adding her voice to those of the critics from time to time. In spite of this, she strives to give us a complete sense of Magnus Hirschfeld, who comes out as a no less remarkable man for all his shortcomings, conveying an essential sense of his humanity. I’m honored and delighted to have made Magnus Hirschfeld’s acquaintance through these pages. I’m grateful to Dr. Wolff for giving me an opportunity to do so and hungry to read more of her work.