Transsexual History - A Quick Summery                                                                 

Typically the first stage for any person in the UK who thinks that they may be a transsexual is their family Doctor (GP). As they are unlikely to have previous come across this condition they will often refer the person onto a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will attempt to see if his of her patient is suffering from any other mental illness before beginning therapy, at this stage they will usually refer the patient onto a specialist clinic such as the one at Charing Cross Hospital in London, CX can make a decision about whether the patient may benefit from treatment. They will then ask the patient to live as a member of the opposite sex for three months before Irreversible hormone treatment can begin, a further two years of successful living in role is required before surgery is considered.

By the time hormones are administered it will have been some time since the initial visit to the GP, often as much as two years, rather than waiting this length of time most patients will by this time find a psychiatrist who is willing to prescribe the hormones privately on a first visit.

For a male born person the therapy will usually include hormone treatment, removal of unwanted hair by electrolysis and surgery of the genital to create an realistically appearing vagina and clitoris. For the female born the treatment generally includes a mastectomy and hysterectomy, and treatment with male hormones. Few choose to undergo a phalloplasty, the creation of a penis, as this has many complications and is rarely successful. However the persons original height and build cannot be changed by treatment. Hence a six foot two muscular man will become a six foot two muscular woman, many people will assume that a woman of that height and build must have been born male.

Transsexuality isn't...

Cross Dressing, these are people who feel the need to wear clothes usually attributed to the opposite birth sex, for some it creates sexual arousal, it could be part of a submission/dominance relationship, or it could be entertainment. The desire to cross dress will usually begin at puberty or later, along with the desire for sex - although many transgender people dress to relax and to find 'comfort' or as an escape from the daily stressful lives they may lead. The transsexual will often recall feelings that they were in the wrong gender from childhood, though they may not choose to act on these or consult a medical professional until later in life.

The beginnings of the modern transsexual

Click here for the first sex-change

Einar Wegener, a Danish artist was longed to be a woman persuaded a surgeon to make her psychically a women. As well as removing her penis, she had ovarian and uterine tissue implanted into her. This proved fatal and she died shortly afterwards.

By 1952, when American GI George Jorgensen decided to became Christine, she found surgeons in Scandinavia that were competent and familiar with the surgery. When she wrote to her parents that she was now their daughter not their son, they replied that they still loved her. She returned to American as glamorous woman, hoping to begin a new life, she found a media fury, obsessed with her past.

She settled into her new life, becoming engaged twice. Yet she was only able to earn at living singing "I enjoy being a girl" in nightclubs, and giving interviews to newspapers and magazines.

Transsexualism in the 1970's and 1980's

Harry Benjamin

In 1966 Dr Harry Benjamin, a personal friend of Christina Jorgensen published "The Transsexual Phenomena." It outlined the nature of the condition, the differences between transsexuals and transvestites, and described the successful results of treatment with hormones and surgery.

Benjamin made the it easier for thousands of transsexuals to obtain treatment. He outlined the standards of care for the transsexuals and founded the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which still sets the standards for treatment.

Critics of Medical Treatment

Since 1966 many more patients began to seek sex reassignment treatment, and many more Doctors began to provide it. However many members of the medical community were the uneasy with what they saw as supporting the delusion of psychotic people with the mutilation of otherwise healthy bodies. In 1979 Meyer and Reter² published a paper in a reputable Scientific journal in which they concluded that the transsexuals who were treated by hormones and surgery were no better off than those treated by psychotherapy to help them accept their original birth gender.

However many researchers have attempted to follow up transsexuals after treatment and only Meyer and Reter came to this conclusion. Many researchers³ in the have pointed out a large number of flaws and prejudices in this study. For example he allocated positive and negative points for a number of lives and added them together, however a relationship with someone of the same sex was considered to be a negative point. People who had middle class jobs were allocated more points than people in manual jobs. Most members of the medical profession would consider that homophobic and prejudice of this nature have no place in modern medicine.

Critique from Feminists

In 1979 Janice Raymond published "The Transsexual Empire". In this book she stated that the entry of male to female transsexuals in to women only spaces made the women feel violated. She also argues that effeminate men should remain men and challenge societies conception of what it means to be male, rather than becoming feminine females and reinforcing societies perceptions of what it means to be female. She claimed female to male transsexuals were victims of the misogynistic society. This view is also held by academics such as Germaine Greer.

The vast majority of transsexuals that transitioned in the 1960's and 70's were previously living as gay men they became heterosexual women. If they were able to effectively appear though they were born female then they would have been able to obtain work and earn a decent living. April Ashley one of the first British transsexuals who came to the attention of the media was able to work as a underwear model however once a friend sold her story to the press she recalls that she couldn't even get a job in a shop!!!

Transseuxalism in the 1980's and 1990's

In the early 1990's the medical profession began to realise that just as not every man who was born male was attracted to women, neither did every man who was born female, and the Gay and Lesbian transsexual began to emerge. More and more people who felt that they did not fit into either of the two genders felt that they did not need to and began to identify as transgender⁴.

Legal progress was made in the UK after a landmark case in the European Court in 1999 it became illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of their transsexuality. By this time the majority of transsexuals were able to remain in their old jobs whilst they transitioned from one gender to another. By now ones passport and driving license could be changed. The only thing that could not be altered was the birth certificate, with that came the right to marry and to adopt a child with a partner of the opposite sex.

After a recent European Court ruling that the refusal to change birth certificates is unlawful soon it should be possible to achieve full legal equality.

Transsexualism Today

Recently medical science has done much research on the possible causes of transsexualism. One study has found that on examination of the brains of deceased transsexuals. Researchers have found them to be closer the to the sex that they always insisted they were. This would indicate that ones feelings of being male or female are set in the brain from birth and can not be altered. It is hypothesized that these feelings could be due to abnormalities in hormones before birth.

However the research is not conclusive. Only a very small number of brains have been examined. Also the differences could be from the way that a brain is used, or from the administration of hormones to transsexuals during there therapy. Other researchers hypotheses that it may be caused by an upbringing where gender was not emphasized enough, for instance giving a boy dolls to play with, or by an dysfunctional family. Neither of these theories have been proved conclusively.

Criticism and hostility to transsexuality has reduced greatly in recent years however it is still present. Women sometimes feel threatened by male to female transsexual who wishes to enter a women only space. Some are also disappointed that there are less "butch" lesbians than there used to be as many of them have transitioned and are now living as male. Some Christians feel that if a person was made a gender by God then they ought to remain that way and changing healthy organs is a violation of God's will.

Nowadays a person transitioning from one gender to another does not face the challenges that a person would have done ten or twenty years ago. Most Doctors are interested and supportive, if not knowledgeable of the condition. Most friends are more supportive than expected and people's families though upset at first come to be supportive with time. Most large organisations such as banks are friendly and sympathetic when it comes to changing paperwork.

At work it is currently illegal in the United Kingdom to discriminate against or to harass a transsexual. As a result most employers are supportive when a employee announce that they are going to transition. As a result most people stay in the jobs that they were previously in and continue to earn a living. Many transsexuals will eventually tire of being the office gossip and will chose to move to a work place where no one knows.

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¹ In most cases
² The BMJ would reference this as Meyer and Reter. Arch. Sex. Behav. 9: 451-456
³ Such as the authors of this study The BMJ style reference is Arch. Sex. Behav. 9: 451-456
⁴ The term Transgender is also used, some may say improperly as an umbrella term for transsexual, transvestite and anything else beginning trans