Social and Economic Aspects of Transsexualism

Abstract

The syndrome of transsexualism has become widely known in psychiatry and is now clearly distinguished from both homosexuality and transvestism, as well as from hermaphrodism (Benjamin, 1953). Other authors such as Wålinder (1968), Hoenig et al. (1964) and others have given definitions of the syndrome, which might be circumscribed as follows: The transsexualists, although physically apparently normal, are nevertheless convinced that they are ‘inwardly really’ persons of the opposite sex; they claim to ‘feel’ like a person of the opposite sex, but think that the body has somehow—by a freak of nature—developed abnormally, and not in accordance with their ‘true nature’. They seek medical treatment, if necessary surgery, to have their body changed into what they conceive to be their ‘real’ sex.