Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1958)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1958 HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON PAGE FrVE What's All The Fuss? Asks Italian Who Changed From Girl To Boy Editor's Note: The world was startled recently when word came out of a small Italian village about a peasant family whose "daugh ters" were being changed into sons in almost wholesale numbers. United Press International sent a reporter to visit the family for the firsthand story which follows. By ERNEST SAKLER United Press International GIFFONE, Italy (UPI) The young man was black-haired, very small, belligerent, and didn't look at all as though he'd ever been a girl. Standing there in the field, a hoe on his shoulder and his pret ty, 15-year-old wife, Serafina, by his side, Vittorio Alvaro didn't want to answer questions. Yes, he was 23 years old, Vit torio conceded, and. it was just three years ago that he went to a clinic and became a girl-into-boy. But it wasn't, much of a story. Why so much interest? To Vittorio's fellow-villagers, as to Vittorio himself, it was nothing to get excited about. He had never behaved like a girl anyway "al ways running after girls," he ad mitted with a grin. The village didn't find it too exciting that a person's sex should be set straight. Thai's what those hospitals in the cities were for. To doctors, however, Vittorio and Papal Farm To Establish Angus Herd Breeders or registered Aberdeen Angus cattle in the United States are providing a foundation breed ing herd for the Papal Farm near Rome, Italy, according to Monsig nor L. G. Ligutti, executive di rector of the National Catholic Ru ral Life Conference of America with headquarters in Dcs Moines, Iowa. The desire to place a fine breeding herd of beef cattle on the Papal 3Tarm occurred when Pope Pius XII and Dr. Bonomel li, manager of the farm, became concerned over Ihe lack of beef cattle in Italy and Southern Eu rope. They approached Monsignor Ligutti, seeking to remedy the sit uation with the best type of beef cattle and he urged that they ob tain Aberdeen-Angus from the United States. Their plan is to start their Pap al Farm beef herd wilh at least 14 registered Aberdeen-Angus heif ers and one bull, hoping that the Generosity of American breeders will make this number possible. As the herd increases, bulls and heif ers will be given, not sold, to proven worthy poor farmers and to charitable institutions (hospitals, homes for the aged, orphanages, etc.) that operate farms. This long range program should, within a reasonable number of years, great ly increase the supply of quality beef as well as elevate the stand ard of living of many Southern Europe farmers. It will also aid in expanding the Angus breed in the world. A few Angus breeders in the Midwest have already dunatcd a number of registered cattle for the foundation herd. Don C. Houston of Iownna Angus Farm, Dtinlap. Iowa, has contributed a bull and has offered his farm as an assem bly point for the herd prior to its shipment to Italy. Other heifers have been offered from herds in Iowa. South Dakota, and Montana, but a few more are needed to complete the herd. Any one wishing to assist in tills pro gram by giving a registered yearl ing Angus heiter should not iiy Mr Houston. The Rev. Leo J. Gannon. Harlan, Iowa, has been appointed treasurer of the funds needed for paying the cost of transportation I of the cattle to the Papal Farm! which is 15 miles south of Rome. his family were wonderful speci mens, mere were no less than five cases in the family of women who had or could have turned man. One of Vittorio's sisters had done so, at the same time he was corrected. Another was going to be. And then there were Vittorio's two aunts, his mother's sisters, who could have used sex-change surgery if it had been advanced enough in their time. Vittorio finally told his story re luctantly, letting it be known that as a hard working peasant high up in the hills of Calabria ("it is a poor land") he didn't have time to stand there gabbing. As Vittorio told it. it didn't sound like much of a story. When he was born he was a girl and they called him Rosa Marina and they combed his hair into tresses. But he never quite felt like a girl and would rovo the fields climbing trees and walls and fighting with boys and doing other ungirlish things. He would play cards in the inns and go around at night strumming serenades on his mandolin. Oh, yes, there was his younger sister, Maria Antonia, who was also like that, only shyer. And there were the two aunts, Pasqualina Sorbara who is now dead and Mi- chelina who Is alive, in her 50s, wears men's shoes and carries a whip. For a few summers Vittorio at that time still Rosa Marina worked as a housemaid in nearby Cinquefronde. Then Rosa Marina heard of a girl who became a man in the town of Cittanova and was called Edoardo Simonctta. She de cided she wanted a sex change too. It took some time to get a doc tor interested, Vittorio said. But Dr. Salvatore Musumeci, a sur geon in Catania, Sicily, heard of the case. In 1955, Rosa Marina and Maria Antonia went to his clinic rend on July 23 that year became Vittorio and Antonio. Antonio is now 19 and helps out in the fields. He was away from home, looking for seasonal work in northern Italy. He hasn't found a girl friend yet because he is shy and also because he wants to mar ry a rich girl now that his name has been in the papers. It took three years, until this summer, to get the sex changes recognized by a court order, and the bureaucratic machinery hasn't quite caught up with it yet. In the general elections in May this year, Vittorio had to vote with a wom an's certificate. Ho is not eligible for military service because he is a family head now, but Antonio may be drafted next year. That was about all Vittorio had to tell, except for the fact that he has a three-year-old sister, Fran cesca Giuseppina, who also needs a sex change and will get it in the next few months. In Catania, Dr. Musumeci said it had taken him considerable time and biological and psychological tests to decide if Vittorio had bet ter be a boy or a girl. "Vittorio Alvaro was a typical instance of a genuine hermaphro dite," the Sicilian surgeon said. "He had both inward and outward characteristics of both sexes. Bio logical tests failed to prove decis ive, but psychological tests showed the male side was predominant in his character and I made my de cision on the basis of that." The case of Antonio was sim pler, Dr. Musumeci said. He was a "false hermaphrodite ot me te male type," meaning that his in ner organs were male and only outward characteristics were fe male. Both were prepared psychologi cally before being operated on, Dr Musumeci said. They were placed in the male section of the clinic so they would become accustomed to being among men. Their long hair was first combed and then cut. Both were perfectly normal and fit to marry and have children when they left the clinic. Dr. Musu meci said. The surgeon said such sex change operations "are not excep tional" but require considerable skill and knowledge. Ho said the most interesting side of the Gittone cases was their clear hereditary factor, he believed centuries of marriages between close kin in the small hill village played a role in it. The heredity. Dr. Musumeci said, came from the family of Vittorio's mother, Caterina Sorbara. She her self is normal, but the two masculine-looking aunts were her sisters. There's o, CHEVY TRUCK To Help You Do YOUR JOB Dugan & Mest CHEVROLET 410 So. 6th TU 4-3101 3- C SENSATIONAL NEW DOZER WITH uPOWER-ANGLINGrf MODEL. 1000-100 HP MODEL BOO -BO HP m S BLADE DOUBLES DOZER OUTPUT on grading, backfilling and windrowing jobs You've wanted it for years . . . now hero it is ... a powerful, higher-speed nnglcdozcr that angles hyilraulically right rom the driver's scat. Knablcs operator lo maintain blade in proper position for peak efficiency on all jobs . . . without wasting valu able working lime on every blade-change. New 80 and 100 III' Case-TcrrnTrnc dozers also give you the extra advantages of power-boosting torque-converter drive, plus a new patpnt-applicd-for counter-rotating, power-shift transmis sion that permits fast 300 power-turns within the track length of the machine. By changing blade angle "on-tho-go", operator can thus keep pushing dirt in same horizontal direction on each pass, instead of backing up empty. Or, he can peel off part of a pile . . . sweep it into the trench . . . and "counter-rotate" back into pile within 3 seconds. See these and other advanced fea tures of the new Case-TcrraTrac power-angling dozers now at your Case Industrial Dealer's listed below. you Just MOVE A LEVER and blade angles HYDRAULIC ALLY. . . fit fflTTlfffflB? rrrnfiTTlilrffl nuinimMg WITHOUT stopping the tractor Rugged hydraulic scarifier or winch available al optional equipment on both 80 and 1 00 HP models. STAGE ' RAIN NEW YORK (UPI) Under or ders from director Joshua Logan. Jo Mielzincr is designing a set for the forthcoming The World ot hu zie Wong" which will include aj : case: E INDUUTHIAI. SALES-SERVICE See it today in our showroom 7 EAGLE EQUIPMENT COMPANY 7209 So. 6th TU 4-4551 Industrial wheal and crawler trattors dozers loaders backhoes fork raijiiuiu
