Former “page 3” model, Bond girl, and notable trans rights activist with two published autobiographies and a film deal for her life story: Caroline Cossey, also known as “Tula”, has come a long way from her roots in rural Norfolk.
Cossey was born in 1954 in the village of Brooke, South Norfolk (population 1,200). It wasn’t an easy childhood; although gendered as male, she was born with a chromosomal variation (XXXY) which gave her feminine features, and she was constantly bullied through school.
Cossey moved to London at 16, where she started living as a woman. Following gender affirmation surgery she worked as a showgirl in London and Paris, and a topless dancer in Rome.
Back in London Cossey became a notable model using the name “Tula”, and was cast as an extra on the 1981 Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Shortly after the film’s release she was outed as transgender on the front page of News of the World; she responded by releasing I am a Woman, her first autobiography.
Shortly afterwards Cossey began legal proceedings against the British Government to allow her to change the gender on her birth certificate. As she says in her autobiography:
“What I did not know then, but have since learnt to my cost, was that as a transsexual in this country I had none of the legal rights of my new sex. I could not marry the man of my choice. I could not alter my now inaccurate birth certificate. If convicted of a crime, I would be sent to a male prison. I could not legally be raped. … I had no idea that a country which allowed its doctors to perform and perfect this revolutionary surgery would refuse to protect the woman they had helped create.”
The case went to the European Court of Human Rights which ruled in her favour in 1989. However, the British Government appealed the decision; Cossey lost in 1990. It wasn’t until the Gender Recognition Act of 2004 that British people would be able to change the gender on their birth certificate.
Following this setback Cossey again fought back, becoming the first out transwoman to feature in Playboy magazine in 1991 and appearing on a number of talk shows, dealing with a small number of hostile audience questions with humour and good grace.
However the media exposure had taken a heavy toll on Cossey’s professional and personal life. She moved to Atlanta and then Montreal, marrying a Canadian businessman and largely avoiding the spotlight.
Despite her glamorous and sometimes troubled globetrotting life, Norfolk retains a special place in her heart: “I have always returned to Brooke whenever I felt cornered or low. Its tranquillity helps to calm my mind. Although many of my childhood experiences were troubled, Norfolk has never ceased to offer comfort.”
Further Reading:
A Queer History of Cambridgeshire 