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變異的性行為
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性少數: 7.
易性癖者
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術語鉴别
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術語“易性癖（transsexualism，拉丁語trans：交叉地；sexus：性別）”於1923年由馬格納斯·赫希菲爾德所撰造，開初只是被少數幾位試圖描述易性癖亞群的專家所接納。最終，“易性癖”這個詞語逐步匯入日常生活語言，並賦予了現在的含義。按照現行的用法，似乎下述的定義最廣泛地得到認可： |
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但是，“易性癖者”這個術語因為引起誤解的兩個原因而常常受到詬病，其原因是：
一些學者更願意使用術語“跨性者（transgender）”而不願意使用“易性癖者（transsexual）”，因為跨性者這個術語避免了誤解，不會讓人誤以為人們正在談論性功能障礙或性取向。不過，跨性者和“跨性別（transgenderism）”這些術語現在包括違抗傳統的女性氣質和男性氣概的定義的任何行為和所有的行為。顯示有這樣的行為的個體並不都是易性癖者。
簡而言之，現今所使用的這些術語並不完全令人滿意。它們可能會引起誤解，而且將來可能很有必要用更精確的術語來替代。在這個過渡期間，我們仍然在本教程裏使用“易性癖者（transsexual）”和“易性癖（transsexualism）”這些術語，因為它們為人所熟知和仍然被大多數理論研究者所使用。 |
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Variations in Sexual Behavior
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Sexual Minorities: 7. Transsexuals
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Terms
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The term “transsexualism” (lat. trans: across and sexus: sex) was coined by
Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923 and was only gradually accepted by a few specialists who thereby tried to characterize a subgroup of transvestites. Eventually, the word “transsexual” entered everyday language and acquired its present meaning. According to current usage, something like the following definition is the most widely accepted:
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Transsexuals (TS) are persons whose self-identification as females or males is contradicted by their physical sex. They feel uncomfortable in their “wrong” bodies and therefore try to adapt their outward appearance to their innermost conviction.
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However, the term “transsexual” has often been criticized as misleading for two reasons: 1.The person does not have a “sexual” problem, but a problem of gender. 2. The person has not moved “across” anything. Instead, the self-identification as female or male, while contradicting the physical sex, is fixed and immutable. For this reason, most scientific writers now no longer speak of transsexualism, but of “gender dysphoria” (gr. dysphoria: irritated mood, from dys-: un-, and phorein: to carry). This new term simply refers to a mismatch of gender and sex.
Some prefer the term “transgender” to “transsexual”, because it avoids the misunderstanding that one is talking about a sexual dysfunction or a sexual orientation. However, this term - as well as “transgenderism” - now includes any and all behavior that defies the traditional definitions of femininity and masculinity. Not all individuals showing such behavior are transsexuals.
In short, the terms available today are not entirely satisfactory. They can lead to misunderstandings and may very well have to be replaced by more precise terms in the future. In the meantime, we keep using the terms “transsexual” and “transsexualism” in this course, because they are well known and still used by most academic writers.
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