Erm, was Ed Gein really obsessed with Christine Jorgensen? Here’s who she actually was

A lot of personal details, including Ed Gein’s obsession with Christine Jorgensen, are shown in Netflix’s new true crime drama Monster: The Ed Gein Story.

The eight-episode series goes deep into Ed Gein’s mind — his obsession with his mother, his alleged girlfriend Adeline Watkins, and his gruesome crimes. It’s a dramatised version of the real story. Although much of it is fictionalised, one detail that’s true is the inclusion of trans icon Christine Jorgensen.

Well, who was the iconic Christine Jorgensen?

via Netflix

Christine Jorgensen was not a fictional creation. She was a real woman from New York who became internationally known in the early 1950s after undergoing gender-affirming surgeries in Denmark. Her story made front-page news when she returned to the United States, making her one of the first openly trans women in the public eye.

Born George William Jorgensen Jr. in 1926, Christine described her younger self as a “frail, blond, introverted little boy who ran from fistfights and rough-and-tumble games.” At just 19, near the end of the Second World War, she was conscripted into the US Army. After her discharge, she studied photography and attended the Medical and Dental Assistant School.

Christine later travelled to Sweden and Denmark, where she consulted doctors and began hormone therapy before undergoing surgery. A letter she wrote to her parents about her transition was leaked. In it she wrote, “Nature made a mistake which I have had corrected, and now I am your daughter.”

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She spoke openly about her transition and often shared how much happier she felt living as her true self. She went on to work as a singer and performer in nightclubs and gave talks at universities about gender identity and acceptance. Christine Jorgensen died in 1989 at the age of 62 after being diagnosed with bladder and lung cancer.

So, how did she end up in Ed Gein’s story?

via Netflix

During the 1950s, Christine Jorgensen’s name was everywhere, in newspapers, on the radio, and even in gossip columns. As shown in the series, the real Ed Gein, who lived in rural Wisconsin, may have been aware of her. He had a deep fixation on anatomy, death, and gender, all of which were tied to his severe mental illness and his disturbing relationship with his mother.

It’s been reported that Gein made a so-called “woman suit” out of exhumed corpses. And that he may have been curious about what it would be like to live as a woman.

According to Cosmopolitan, some reports claimed that he collected newspaper clippings about Jorgensen, along with other material about anatomy and gender identity. However, there’s no solid evidence that Gein ever met Jorgensen or had a real connection with her. His so-called “obsession” seems to have been part of his larger psychological issues, not a personal fixation on her specifically.

But, why does the Netflix show add his obsession detail?

via Netflix

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Christine Jorgensen appears as a figure in Gein’s imagination, played by Alanna Darby. In one memorable scene, she tells him that he is not transgender, but gynephilic.

As co-creator Ian Brennan told Tudum, this moment was written carefully to make an important distinction. “It was really important for us to make that distinction. For us to say, ‘Look, these are two very different things,’” he said. “And it was cool to be able to put it in the mouth of Christine Jorgensen. For him to be told that through her in his mind was a really cool moment.”

So, although Netflix dramatises this element for storytelling, there’s no proof Gein was truly obsessed with Christine Jorgensen.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.