Virginia Prince, Robert Stoller and the Trans Feminist Intellectual History of the Sex/Gender Distinction

Abstract Scholars have begun to genealogize the sex/gender distinction, pointing out that it was not a second-wave feminist invention, but in fact has its roots in the clinical research of US sexologists. However, the influence of trans individuals on the development of these clinicians’ thought tends to go unacknowledged. Beginning with correspondence between Virginia Prince, a trans pharmacologist, and Robert Stoller, an influential psychiatrist, this paper demonstrates that Prince was a highly significant influence in the development of the sex/gender distinction. Revisiting Prince’s rationale for distinguishing between sex and gender historicizes the inbuilt conservatism and weaponizable currency of the heuristic.