In this post I'm going to concentrate on transwomen inhabiting Europe.We transpeeps need to give the Europeans major shout-outs. They have led the way in terms of the medical and scientific research, the generous medical plans that cover transitions in some countries and the groundbreaking legal statutes that protect our rights and make it easy to change documents to match presentations. Sweden passed TG laws back in 1972, followed by Germany in 1981, Italy in 1982, the Netherlands in 1985, Turkey in 1988, Britain and Spain in 2004.
The transpeople that garnered early media attention also came from this region of the world. Christine Jorgenson was the first transwoman to get international media attention, but her initial surgery was done in Denmark. After Christine, it was the European transwomen who dominated much of the international media attention through the 60s and 70's. We'll start with the Dutch girls. They get to start early on hormones that are covered by national health plans. Romy Haag was one of the early Dutch transwomen who after transitioning at 33, has made a career for herself in Germany.
The current poster child for Dutch transwomen is Kelly van der Veer. She had her surgery at 19 and has been a fixture on Dutch TV and in Dutch popular culture ever since.
Britain not only has covered transgender issues and grappled with them since the 60's, their NHS granted Angel Paris-Jordan SRS at age 17. Our British cousins have also had a few transwomen grab international headlines as well. April Ashley was the transgender poster girl in the 60's and was involved in a groundbreaking court case. Her divorce from Arthur Corbett led to an unfortunate ruling that hampered the ability of British transwomen until the 2004 passage of the Gender Recognition Act to have their marriages recognized and change their identity documents to match current gender presentation. The case also reared its ugly head here in the States in adverse marriage rulings in the 90's.
The British transgender it girl torch was passed to Caroline Cossey in the 70's and 80's, and it remains to be seen in the early 21st century who will be the next famous British transwoman.
You knew the French would not be outdone with Coccinelle and Amanda Lear to point to with Gallic pride in this beautiful transwoman debate. Coccinelle rivaled Christine Jorgensen back in the day in terms of world media attention and after her SRS in Morocco in 1958 became extremely popular in France. She was also an activist who fought for transgender rights in France as well. Amanda Lear played the 'is-she-is-she-not-a-transwoman' coy role with the world media for decades even though she performed with Coccinelle and April Ashley at the same Paris transgender cabarets.
The Germans produce supermodels, so it would stand to reason that they would also have beautiful transgender frauleins to boast about. They did much of the early research in transsexuality under the world famous sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld that led to Lili Elbe's pioneering surgeries in 1931. It's also no accident at one of the Nazis first public book burnings happened outside of Hirschfeld's offices. Germany is also home to what some people believe is the youngest transwoman to transition in Kim, who began her transition at age 12.
Greek transwomen can point with Hellenic pride to their renowned poster girl Jenny Hiloudaki, who burst onto the world's radar screens in the 90's. She began her transition at age 13 and had SRS at age 20. She became one of Greece's top models complete with a jet setting high society lifestyle to go with it. She was even at the center of a Greek political scandal because of her 1997 affair with District Attorney George Sakelaropoulos which was eagerly followed in the Greek press, was named Greek Woman of the Year in 2000.
While Italy is one place the Brazilian transwomen call their home away from home, the Italians have some beautiful home grown transwomen as well, and Eva Robin's is their poster girl. Eva's story is interesting because she says she developed extremely feminine features and began developing breasts at a young age naturally, but that's been disputed, along with whether or not she's had SRS. What isn't disputed is the fact that however it happened, she's got it going on in the beauty department and has parlayed it into a nice career as an actress model and commentator.
Spain is a relative newbie in terms of passing progressive legislation for transsexuals, having done so in 2004, but not in producing beautiful transwomen. Bibiana Fernandez also known by her stage name of Bibi Andersen, is a statuesque actress and model who has appeared in several films produced by world renowned director Pedro Almodovar. The nations that were behind the Iron Curtain like Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Serbia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania have transpeople there, and as those communities emerge and more info comes out, they too will probably join in this debate as to who has the world's most beautiful transwomen.