Variations in Sexual Behavior

Sexual Minorities: 7. Transsexuals

No Surgery

There are also transsexuals who oppose any sex reassignment surgery. They want to remain as they are and demand instead greater social tolerance for sexual diversity of all kinds. Indeed, some researchers believe that not only the sex of assignment (gender role), but also the sexual self-identification (gender identity) are socially constructed. In the final analysis, therefore, all gender problems can be traced to the larger social issue of needlessly narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. According to this view, transsexualism is not a medical condition, but the response of certain individuals in certain situations to inappropriate social pressure and undue cultural demands. In short, surgery is the wrong answer to a more fundamental question: How can we build a society that accepts the full spectrum of the human sexual condition?
This explanation of transsexualism is disputed by those who suspect a biological cause, and they still seem to have the better arguments. However, so far, neither side has been able to offer conclusive proof. In any case, one can say that, even today, the riddle of transsexualism is still far from being solved.
The present introductory course does not allow us to go into greater detail about this. It will be the subject of another, special course on gender.