‘From the Fields Into the Bars’: The Story of Israel's First Transgender Novel, <i>The Cut</i> (1977)

ABSTRACT In 1977, an Israeli transgender woman, Judy Spotheim, published an autobiographical novel entitled The Cut . It describes the emergence of a trans community in the commercial‐sex areas of Tel Aviv‐Jaffa, hoping to humanise trans women ( coccinelles ). This article is the first to study the novel and present a biography of Spotheim. It analyses the historical and personal circumstances enabling such a ground‐breaking text to be published, and why she was unsuccessful in advocating for trans women. It is based on oral history interviews conducted with trans women over the course of a decade, as well as queer and trans theory.