From ABC News comes a story called:
Les Amies de Place Blanche: Transvestites of 1960′s Paris
Christer Strömholm
(1918-2002) is considered one of the great photographers of the 20th
century, though he is little known outside of his native Sweden.
Arriving in Paris in the late 1950′s, Strömholm settled in the Place
Blanche, home to the Moulin Rouge, in the heart of the city’s red-light
district. There he befriended the “ladies of the night,” transgendered
males who were struggling to live as women and raising money for
sex-change operations.
|
"Gina" |
At the time in President Charles de Gaulle’s ultra-conservative France,
transvestites were outlawed and regularly harassed and arrested by the
gendarmes for being “men dressed as women outside the period of
carnival.”
Strömholm photographed his subjects, whom he called his “les amies de
Place Blanche (girlfriends of Place Blanche) in their hotel rooms, in
bars and on the streets of Paris.
There are several photos. I will post one here now and then later move a couple to "The Gallery" here and "Trannsnation.Com".