Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Josephine Joseph
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Josephine Joseph was a Polish Austrian, born in 1913, whose body was supposedly split down the middle, one side female and the other male. S/he claimed to be a true hermaphrodite, but there is no evidence to confirm whether this was the case or not; s/he may have just been a very skilled male/female impersonator.
Like most sideshow "hermaphrodites" this would have been portrayed with the "half and half" trick; woman on the left and man on the right. One side of the body would be exercised, and tanned in the sun; the other side would be covered and unexercised, making it pale and flabby, so the chest resembled a woman's breast. They would then wear a split costume; a lowcut, tight top and hotpants on the "female" side and on the "male" side a Tarzan style loin cloth.
Josephine is most prominently remembered, however, for a role in the Tod Browning classic "Freaks" at the age of 19. Although s/he only had one line, s/he still appeared in a number of scenes, most notably when "Josephine" gives an alluring look towards the strongman to which another performer responds "I think SHE likes you, but HE don't!"
"Hermaphrodites" were very common in the freakshow, but most are presumed to be frauds.