Big fan of the 1940s "mysterious illness" method of coming out
(source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99229261/man-becomes-girl-in-strange/)
@prehensile "I can't come into work today, I caught a bad case of the gender"
also the idea that a man without a beard is unheard of
@The_T @prehensile it just disappeared! Nobody knows how! What the fuck is a razor!
@prehensile …mumps??????????
@xerz *severe* mumps
@prehensile welp then, then I guess the antivax wanted to trans the children all along 
@prehensile sensitivity to gender dysphoria was much higher back then.
@prehensile "beard vanished" is the best part of that post 😂
@julie @prehensile "scientists are trying to figure out where it went"
@prehensile She got younger too?
@prehensile "Beard vanishes" is a perfect cherry on top
@prehensile also I think there was that method in 19th century when they said "I don't know, I just woke up one day as a different sex, probably a miracle, and believe me, I tried everything to get my AGAB body back, but to no avail 😥 so here is my new name I was forced to pick for myself"
A fabulous twist to this story is that Barbara was pressured to divorce her partner because it was suddenly a same-sex marriage.. and then remarried him a few years later after he transitioned, in one of the first recorded examples of t4t
here's a great piece about her: https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/03/barbara-ann-richards-trans-history-california.html