Christine was born male, but in the 1950’s she sailed her way to Europe in a quest to find physicians who were willing to help her live her life as the female she identified as. She was lucky enough to find a physician who was willing to prescribe hormonal therapy for her. This prescription was in exchange for her participation in a research study. Having a contingent prescription here means that there were some ethical lines crossed in the research domain. Research study participants should participate freely and enthusiastically. Having her medication be contingent means that she was unable to drop out of the study without fear of losing her medications. I digress. This is a personal interpretation and not Christine’s interpretation of events.
She was able to go on and undergo a sex reassignment surgery. She later came out in The New York Times as one of the first largely publicized transexual!