Droit et Cultures (Dec 2010)
Le comte qui était comtesse : un cas de gynandrie au tribunal de Vienne (1890)
Abstract
This article is about one of the first expert testimonies presented to the tribunals of the imperial Court, conducted by Krafft-Ebing when he had just been named professor of psychiatry at Vienna. He was called in on a case involving a young Hungarian countess – in his view, suffering from gynandrism – charged with illegitimate marriage to a young woman and knowingly misrepresenting herself to her “father-in-law” in the process. Of particular interest is the way Krafft-Ebing oriented his testimony, aligning it with the theory he had previously elaborated regarding sexual psychopathies (notably degrees of homosexuality). Of interest, too, is his role in the acquittal of the countess, who spent the rest of her life as a man (in body and dress), identifying himself as Monsieur le Comte…
