Understanding TRANSSEXUALITY
There are different levels of depth of psychological disorder, and each level may have a level oftherapy appropriate to it. Some problems are relatively
superficial, such as simple cases of impotence. In order to cure-in the full sense ofcure-such a problem, only the behavior needs to be changed. The backup machinery is all there: desire and sexual identity are intact; all that is missing is working peripheral machinery, and behavior therapy works well to cure this problem...
Other disorders are at a moderate level of depth, such as sadism. Here the peripheral machinery is working, but what is disordered is the desire. A sadist is passionate only when infliciting suffering on another
human being; his cognitions and cathexes are disordered. On the other
hand, the sadist's sexual identity is still ordered, for the sadist knows he is a
man, or she a woman. Any cure of sadism would not simply be a matter of
getting peripheral machinery to work, but it would consist of a radical
change in what the sadist is passionate about.
Deepest of all disorders are the disorders of sexual identity. Few things are more basic to what we are than our sense of what sex we are, and it is this sense that has gone awry in transsexuality.
The therapy for most sexual disorders is psychologically based,
but the therapy for transsexuality does not consist of changing the psychosexual
identity. Here it is a matter of actually changing the body to conform
to the otherwise unchangeable psychosexual identity.
A transsexual is a man who feels as if he is a woman trapped in a man'S
body, wants to be rid of his genitals, and wants to live as a woman; or a
transsexual is a woman who feels that she is a man trapped in a woman's
body, wants to acquire male genitals, and wants to live as a man. Transsexuals
feel, from early in life, that by some cosmic mistake they were given the
wrong kind of body. This body often disgusts them and the prospect ofhaving
to remain in it all their days makes them hopeless, depressed, and sometimes
suicidal. By their early twenties, many transsexuals will masquerade
in the clothes of the opposite sex. Formerly, many male transsexuals would
have become secretaries; female transsexuals, truck drivers. In effect, transsexuals often do everything they can to pass for members ofthe opposite sex.
Unlike transvestites, such actions, particularly the cross-dressing, are not
sexually exciting to them but are the means of leading the life compatible
with what they perceive to be their sexual identity. Transvestites are decidedly
not transsexual and would be horrified at the idea of having a sexchange
operation.
Before this century, transsexuals were doomed to live out their lives in a
body that repelled them. In the last twenty-five years, medical procedures
have developed-although they have not been pcrfectcd--which allow
transsexuals to acquire the anatomy they desire. The case of Allen-Allison
shows the transsexual's problems with sexual identity:
For the last four years, Allen has been passingby allwho know him, as a female,
but he is in reality an anatomically normal twenty-three-year-old male. Six
months ago, he had his first operation: plastic surgery to enlarge his breasts. He
takes female hormones, has had his facial and chest hair removed, and expects in
the next two years to undergo the surgery to remove his penis and replace it by a
vagina.
Allen says that "As early as I can recall I never had any normal interests and
wanted to become a girl and change my name to Allison." He loved to dress in his
mother's clothes and always preferred to play with "feminine" things, On one occasion, when he was given a fire engine, he threw a tantrum insisting that he
wanted a doll. From about kindergarten on, he demanded acceptance from his
parents as a girl and this made for constant conflict. Finally in the fourth grade, he
persuaded his parents to allow him to "be" a girl at home, except that he had to
wear boys' clothes to school. For the next fewyears he led a double life, attending
school dressed as a boy and then returning home to dress and live as a girl. By
eighth grade, he began to feelvery uncomfortable around people. The boys teased
him mercilessly for being effeminate and the girlswould not accept him. He began
to avoid school and spent a great deal of time alone.
At fifteen, both school life and family life had become unbearable, and he ran
away to San Francisco, where he experimented with homosexuality. He found he
could not tolerate homosexual males and left after only a month. While he was
attracted to men as sexual partners, only those normal heterosexual men who had
accepted him as a female aroused him sexually.Soon, thereafter, he began the odyssey of physical transformation: Allen is now becoming Allison. (Adapted from
Pauly, 1969)
Allen-Allison's history is typical of the adult male transsexual. By age
three or four his identity as a female is well on its way to being fixed. Before
puberty, most transsexual boys will play almost exclusively with girls, will
act like girls, prefer to play with dolls, sew and embroider, and help their
mothers with housework. They refuse to climb trees, play cowboys and Indians,
or roughhouse. By puberty, they feel completely like females, they
want to be accepted by society as females, and when they come to know
sex-change operations exist they desperately want one. This desire is so intense
that in some cases, male transsexuals actually try to cut their own
genitals off (Walinder, 1967; Pauly, 1969; Stoller, 1969; Money and Ehrhardt,
1972).
Male transsexuals have three kinds of sexual histories:
homosexual, heterosexual, and asexual.
The homosexual transsexual is aroused by other
males, but denies that this is "homosexual" since he feels like a woman. In
other words, he wants what he considers "heterosexual" contact only, since
his identity is female. In a study ofseventy-two transsexuals seen at the University
Clinic in Manchester, England, three-quarters had exclusively homosexual
fantasies and roughly one-third of them engaged in homosexual
behavior (Hoenig and Kenna, 1974). In this study, 15 percent ofthe sample
were heterosexual transsexuals. Their sexual fantasies were exclusively
about women. Finally, asexual transsexuals denied ever having any strong
sexual desires, and were preoccupied merely with the desire to live as a
woman and to get rid oftheir male genitals. They had had little or no sexual
experience.
Transsexualism is chronic. Once it has developed, there is not a single
case on record in which it has spontaneously disappeared. A man who feels
like a woman trapped in a man's body, or a woman who feels like a man
trapped in a woman's body, will retain this belieffor the rest ofhis or her life.
Transsexuality is rare. The most recent estimate is that about I in 100,000
people is transsexual (Walinder, 1967; Pauly, 1974). There are probably
more male transsexuals than female transsexuals, and the best estimate of
the ratio seems to be about 1.5 or 2 to 1 (Pauly, 1974). The life history of the
typical female transsexual parallels that of the typical male transsexual.
superficial, such as simple cases of impotence. In order to cure-in the full sense ofcure-such a problem, only the behavior needs to be changed. The backup machinery is all there: desire and sexual identity are intact; all that is missing is working peripheral machinery, and behavior therapy works well to cure this problem...
Other disorders are at a moderate level of depth, such as sadism. Here the peripheral machinery is working, but what is disordered is the desire. A sadist is passionate only when infliciting suffering on another
human being; his cognitions and cathexes are disordered. On the other
hand, the sadist's sexual identity is still ordered, for the sadist knows he is a
man, or she a woman. Any cure of sadism would not simply be a matter of
getting peripheral machinery to work, but it would consist of a radical
change in what the sadist is passionate about.
Deepest of all disorders are the disorders of sexual identity. Few things are more basic to what we are than our sense of what sex we are, and it is this sense that has gone awry in transsexuality.
The therapy for most sexual disorders is psychologically based,
but the therapy for transsexuality does not consist of changing the psychosexual
identity. Here it is a matter of actually changing the body to conform
to the otherwise unchangeable psychosexual identity.
A transsexual is a man who feels as if he is a woman trapped in a man'S
body, wants to be rid of his genitals, and wants to live as a woman; or a
transsexual is a woman who feels that she is a man trapped in a woman's
body, wants to acquire male genitals, and wants to live as a man. Transsexuals
feel, from early in life, that by some cosmic mistake they were given the
wrong kind of body. This body often disgusts them and the prospect ofhaving
to remain in it all their days makes them hopeless, depressed, and sometimes
suicidal. By their early twenties, many transsexuals will masquerade
in the clothes of the opposite sex. Formerly, many male transsexuals would
have become secretaries; female transsexuals, truck drivers. In effect, transsexuals often do everything they can to pass for members ofthe opposite sex.
Unlike transvestites, such actions, particularly the cross-dressing, are not
sexually exciting to them but are the means of leading the life compatible
with what they perceive to be their sexual identity. Transvestites are decidedly
not transsexual and would be horrified at the idea of having a sexchange
operation.
Before this century, transsexuals were doomed to live out their lives in a
body that repelled them. In the last twenty-five years, medical procedures
have developed-although they have not been pcrfectcd--which allow
transsexuals to acquire the anatomy they desire. The case of Allen-Allison
shows the transsexual's problems with sexual identity:
For the last four years, Allen has been passingby allwho know him, as a female,
but he is in reality an anatomically normal twenty-three-year-old male. Six
months ago, he had his first operation: plastic surgery to enlarge his breasts. He
takes female hormones, has had his facial and chest hair removed, and expects in
the next two years to undergo the surgery to remove his penis and replace it by a
vagina.
Allen says that "As early as I can recall I never had any normal interests and
wanted to become a girl and change my name to Allison." He loved to dress in his
mother's clothes and always preferred to play with "feminine" things, On one occasion, when he was given a fire engine, he threw a tantrum insisting that he
wanted a doll. From about kindergarten on, he demanded acceptance from his
parents as a girl and this made for constant conflict. Finally in the fourth grade, he
persuaded his parents to allow him to "be" a girl at home, except that he had to
wear boys' clothes to school. For the next fewyears he led a double life, attending
school dressed as a boy and then returning home to dress and live as a girl. By
eighth grade, he began to feelvery uncomfortable around people. The boys teased
him mercilessly for being effeminate and the girlswould not accept him. He began
to avoid school and spent a great deal of time alone.
At fifteen, both school life and family life had become unbearable, and he ran
away to San Francisco, where he experimented with homosexuality. He found he
could not tolerate homosexual males and left after only a month. While he was
attracted to men as sexual partners, only those normal heterosexual men who had
accepted him as a female aroused him sexually.Soon, thereafter, he began the odyssey of physical transformation: Allen is now becoming Allison. (Adapted from
Pauly, 1969)
Allen-Allison's history is typical of the adult male transsexual. By age
three or four his identity as a female is well on its way to being fixed. Before
puberty, most transsexual boys will play almost exclusively with girls, will
act like girls, prefer to play with dolls, sew and embroider, and help their
mothers with housework. They refuse to climb trees, play cowboys and Indians,
or roughhouse. By puberty, they feel completely like females, they
want to be accepted by society as females, and when they come to know
sex-change operations exist they desperately want one. This desire is so intense
that in some cases, male transsexuals actually try to cut their own
genitals off (Walinder, 1967; Pauly, 1969; Stoller, 1969; Money and Ehrhardt,
1972).
Male transsexuals have three kinds of sexual histories:
homosexual, heterosexual, and asexual.
The homosexual transsexual is aroused by other
males, but denies that this is "homosexual" since he feels like a woman. In
other words, he wants what he considers "heterosexual" contact only, since
his identity is female. In a study ofseventy-two transsexuals seen at the University
Clinic in Manchester, England, three-quarters had exclusively homosexual
fantasies and roughly one-third of them engaged in homosexual
behavior (Hoenig and Kenna, 1974). In this study, 15 percent ofthe sample
were heterosexual transsexuals. Their sexual fantasies were exclusively
about women. Finally, asexual transsexuals denied ever having any strong
sexual desires, and were preoccupied merely with the desire to live as a
woman and to get rid oftheir male genitals. They had had little or no sexual
experience.
Transsexualism is chronic. Once it has developed, there is not a single
case on record in which it has spontaneously disappeared. A man who feels
like a woman trapped in a man's body, or a woman who feels like a man
trapped in a woman's body, will retain this belieffor the rest ofhis or her life.
Transsexuality is rare. The most recent estimate is that about I in 100,000
people is transsexual (Walinder, 1967; Pauly, 1974). There are probably
more male transsexuals than female transsexuals, and the best estimate of
the ratio seems to be about 1.5 or 2 to 1 (Pauly, 1974). The life history of the
typical female transsexual parallels that of the typical male transsexual.
NOTE:
For transsexuals, homosexuals or heterosexuals
who were raise in a shame or guilt based family of origin...
I suggest psychotherapy to come to terms with identity and move into acceptance.
For the treatment method I recommend click here!
http://theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html
For transsexuals, homosexuals or heterosexuals
who were raise in a shame or guilt based family of origin...
I suggest psychotherapy to come to terms with identity and move into acceptance.
For the treatment method I recommend click here!
http://theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html