Israel Mowry Saben (March 24, 1870 – October 7, 1950) was an American essayist and journalist who was an early advocate for gender and sexual diversity. Saben was born into a prominent family in

Uxbridge, Massachusetts Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, first colonized in 1662 and incorporated in 1727. It was originally part of the town of Mendon, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. The town is located southwest of Boston an ...

, the son of Israel Saben and Lydia Jane Albee. Richard Mowry, his father's maternal grandfather, was his great-grandfather. He had a younger sister, Jennie May. He studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

. Saben was on the editorial staff of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

''. Starting in the mid-1930s, he also contributed to ''

The Argonaut ''The Argonaut'' was a newspaper based in San Francisco, California from 1878 to 1956. It was founded by Frank Somers, and soon taken over by Frank M. Pixley, who built it into a highly regarded publication. Under Pixley's stewardship it was ...

'', an influential weekly publication in San Francisco. Saben also served as Assistant Secretary of Labor in the 1920s, when James J. Davis was secretary. He died in San Francisco in 1950, three weeks after falling ill with a liver condition.

Jennie June

According to journalist Channing Gerard Joseph, Saben may have been the real identity of the pseudonymous Jennie June, a non-gender-conforming writer who in 1918 published ''The Autobiography of an Androgyne''. Though June altered identifying details in his books to maintain his anonymity, there is considerable overlap with the details of Saben's own life.

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* 1870 births 1950 deaths People from Uxbridge, Massachusetts Journalists from Massachusetts 20th-century American writers 20th-century American essayists Harvard University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Heidelberg University alumni {{LGBT-bio-stub