vs. Transsexual Models
•Gathering Clinical Data
“Allegedly He’s My Son”
•Transgendered People in the Prison System
“Fasten Your Seat Belt”
•Scene Description
Unwanted Homecoming
•Clinical Needs Beyond Transgender Issues
The Lovely Scenery
•Clinical Differences between MTFs and FTMs
•Lacking Language for Identities
•“Passing”, Conflict, Anxiety
•Transgenderism and Substance Abuse
•Children Substance Abusers of Transgendered Parents
Proud To Be A Christian
•Disclosure to Children of Transgendered Parents
History Lesson
•Guidelines for Self-Disclosure
Sammy’s Wigwam
•Passing: A Defense Strategy with a Psychological Price
•Oppression: From Negative Looks to Murder
•Ignorance and Misunderstandings within the Gay Community
•Invisibility
•MTF and FTM SRS Procedures
•Transgenderism in the Western World
•American Disabilities Act
Stranded
•Transgenderism and Sexual Orientation
“I Thought Your Parents Were Dead”
•Problems in Receiving Family Therapy
•Similarities in Historical Reflections among Transgendered Individuals
“Family” Dinner
•Stigmatization’s Influence on Education
•Suicidality
•Gender Development and Expression
•Parental Responses to Transgendered Youth
•Alienation, Isolation, Homelessness and Substance Abuse among Transgendered Youth
•Internet Technology
•The Ballroom Scene
Revelation
•Betrayal
•Family Intervention
•Mourning and Redefinition
•Unnecessary Concerns Causing Opposition to Continuing Contact between Transgendered Parents and Their Children
•Factors Associated with a Resilient Adaptation by Children of Transgendered Parents
•Family Law and Civil Family Courts
Surgery
•The Role of the Clinician in Dealing with Guilt
Toby’s Acting Debut
•Consequences of Withheld Disclosure
Notes About Intersex
•Intersex Defined
•Intersex and Sexual Orientation
•Similarities and Differences between Intersex and Transsexual Individuals
•Intersex Society of North America (ISNA)
Transgenderism
Transgender is a term that is used to refer to multiple categories of gender variant people, including transsexuals, people who believe that their physiological bodies do not represent their true sex, prefer to be referred to as men or women according to their gender identity and gender presentation, and may or may not have had sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) [also referred to as gender reassignment surgery (GRS)**; cross-dressers, people who dress in the clothing of the opposite sex for erotic fulfillment or for social fun; masculine-identified females; feminine-identifies males; intersex* and other differently gendered people.
* See “Notes About Intersex” at the end of this e-book.
** Many see the surgery as a reassignment of one’s biological sex, thus,
SRS; others see the surgery as a reassignment of gender, thus. GRS.
The 1990’s brought an increasing awareness among researchers and clinicians that genital SRS is not uniformly desired or sought by all persons who dress and behave as a member of the other sex on a full-time basis. This new paradigm originating from transgendered people themselves provided an alternative to the model of transsexualism which had held sway since the 1960’s. The initial model held that transsexuals were “trapped in the wrong body,” experiencing a psychic pain that could be alleviated only by body transformation. The new model views gender as a continuum rather than a male/female dichotomy and calls for individualized gender trajectories, which may or may not include hormonal therapy and SRS…. The transgender model changed the locus of pathology; if there is pathology, it might more properly be attributed to the society rather than the gender-variant individual. Those who are most visibly different are at risk for discrimination, hostility, and violence from an intolerant culture, and often from their schools, churches, police and other government officials, and even family members…. This societal mistreatment can result in psychological difficulties, including shame and guilt and resulting self-destructive behaviors, including abuse of alcohol and other drugs, eating disorders, and self-injurious behaviors; dissociative conditions; personality and behavior disorders; and mood disturbances. Accounts under the older transsexual model tended to assume such problems were symptoms of or co-existent with the “syndrome” of transsexualism, discounting or more often never even considering that they might be reactions to societal discrimination and abuse (Denny, 2004, pp. 26, 31).
It is futile to measure the incidence and prevalence of gender-variant persons for many reasons including that such behavior is private and often viewed a shameful area of behavior that is shrouded in guilt and secrecy. Data can be collected for those who apply for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) but not all gender-variant people seek SRS. In the United States, private mental health practitioners see as many, if not more, individuals who are transgendered than gender clinics per se, yet those numbers are not included in the incidence reports in the literature. Certainly, the prevalence of gender dysphoria is grossly underreported. However, it can be reported that transgendered people inhabit every nation of the world, come from all walks of life, and occupy all socioeconomic strata. Gender conditions do not discriminate on the basis of race
