I Took a 'Frankenstein'-inspired Pilgrimage Through France and Switzerland to Connect With My Trans Identity-Here's What I Learned

"As I circled the statue, the skies opened. I stayed put, moved by the creature's lonesome, grief-stricken gaze. I ran my hand along his scars and thought of my own, rough and raised beneath my rain jacket. It was impossible not to see myself in this monster. After all, he was why I was there."

"As a trans man, I've been called a monster, and I've long related to Shelley's creature. Despite the alarming frequency with which Frankenstein is used as a slur against bodies like mine-bodies that challenge a limited imagination of what gender means-I have seen myself in the creature's faith in others, sympathize with his attempts to connect, to understand his wounded rage since I first encountered him. I would later learn that I'm not the first trans person to make this connection; in fact, the character is a mainstay in the burgeoning academic field of trans studies."

"But even before I understood its broader resonance with my community, Frankenstein-a book I've reread annually since first encountering it a quarter century ago-moved and troubled me. I made this pilgrimage to Switzerland to reckon with my own complicated relationship to the novel, and to trace the creature's path through the landscape that inspired it. I went because, all these years later, the creature troubles and moves me, still."

A trans man walks through Geneva's Old Town on a gray, rainy day and finds a nearly eight-foot bronze statue of Frankenstein's creature in Plainpalais Park. The statue is barefoot, wearing ripped clothes and marked by long sutures across face, neck, and torso, erected by Swiss artists' collective KLAT in 2014. The visitor touches the creature's scars and recognizes parallels with his own, feeling kinship in the creature's longing and wounded rage. Frankenstein often functions as a slur against bodies that challenge rigid gender norms, and the creature serves as a central figure in emerging trans studies. The pilgrimage aims to reckon with personal wounds and the novel's Swiss origins.

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