Gottlieb Göttlich

Gottlieb Göttlich (born Marie Rosine Göttlich, March 6, 1798) was an intersex man in the 1800s who became well known for his condition, as it was the first time many medical practitioners had seen such a case.

Early life

Göttlich was born March 6, 1798, in the Saxon village of Nieder Leuba, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and now Germany. At birth, Göttlich was presumed female and raised as Marie Rosine.

At the age of 33, Göttlich started to have severe pains in her abdominal section, believing the pain to be caused by herniated organs. Professor Friedrich Tiedmann from the University of Heidelberg examined Göttlich in November 1832. Upon examination, he found Göttlich "was evidently a man, with genitals of uncommon formation. She will dress herself, therefore, in men's clothes, and adopt the name of Gottlieb."

Most works refer to Göttlich as a "hermaphrodite", though this term has fallen out of favor in recent years. The term "intersex" for those people with ambiguous or non-conforming genitalia is the modern term.

In literature Göttlich has appeared in many books, including fiction and non-fiction. Some of these include: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex by Alice Domurat Dreger The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence by Professor Helen King Hermaphroditismus beim Menschen by Franz Ludwig von Neugebaue Dr Handyside's Case of Hermaphrodism by Peter Handyside in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 43, pages 313-318