The case drew the attention of noted sexologists of the period, including Havelock Ellis and Richard von Krafft-Ebing, who used it to explore female inversion in the emerging field of sexology.

[1][2] Stemming from the old and noble Vay family [hu] who were Counts of Vojvodina and Laskod, his father served as Colonel-General of Archduke Joseph and was the keeper of the crown jewels.

[5][6] Other accounts, like that of Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Anna Borgos a fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, indicate that why Vay was raised as a boy is unknown.

[2][4] At age eleven, when preparing to send his son to the Pest Noble's Academy, Vay's father learned that Sándor was actually his "daughter".

[1] Though he had aristocratic roots, Vay needed to find employment as his family finances were strained by his father's inability to earn an adequate living from his farm.

[11] Recognizing the nostalgic interest of readers for Hungary's past, Vay began publishing historical articles about well-known people, places, and myths.

[14][15] Struggling financially, possibly due to gambling debts,[17] Vay borrowed Ft800 from his father-in-law, which he claimed was needed as a bond to obtain employment in a stock company.

[20] His wife, who testified that they had consummated their marriage, also stated at trial that she had no idea that Vay was not a man, though the city commander questioned how that was possible, considering that they lived for several months in one small room.

[18] Though he wrote to correspondents expressing frustration with loneliness, lack of recognition, and financial difficulties,[28] Vay had his greatest success between 1900 and 1910.

[29] Living in Zürich at the beginning of World War I, he became stranded, but for three years was able to continue sending articles to Hungary for publication.

[29] In 1929, his brother, who had become a missionary of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin of Assisi, proposed a memorial be built to Vay in their home town.

It also represented a shift from using punishment as a means of restoring social norms to an approach which attempted to understand and explain the underlying causes of anti-social behavior.

[34] The influence of the case was not limited to the medical profession, as "Simone de Beauvoir based her comments on lesbianism in The Second Sex on Vay's story".

[35] Vay's literary legacy influenced many Hungarian writers, including János Dengi [hu], Kinga Fabó, Géza Gyóni, Frigyes Karinthy, Gyula Krúdy, István Örkény, and Zsuzsa Rakovszky.

[36] Additional works such as Európa bál (European Ball, 2006), Virág borul minden rögre: versek (Flowers Fall on Every Nugget: Poems, 2009) and Nemzeti Örökség (National Heritage, 2012) were also posthumously published.

Steinert, a literary historian, notes that while textbooks can relay history, Vay remains relevant as his works convey an intimate knowledge of his age.