Josephine Joseph

Josephine Joseph (born 1913) was a Polish Austrian 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 they only had two lines, they 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 freak shows, but most are presumed to be frauds.

External links

*imdb name | id=0430626 | name=Josephine Joseph