Get a detailed look at the Thai sex/gender system—through analysis of the personal stories from transgendered youth in Thailand

The Thai term sao braphet song (a “second type of woman”) describes males who reject the gender of masculinity for femininity. Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth uses the narrative method, stories in the words of these “second type of women” to analyze these transgendered experiences. This previously ignored perspective of the Thai sex/gender system gained through this theoretical and methodological approach offers students and general readers a rich, more readily accessible foundation of knowledge about gendered subjectivity and sex/gender systems.

Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth features in-depth, autobiographical life histories from individual Thai transgendered youth. Life stories, told in the participants’ own words, provides an engaging, at times touching, always insightful look at Thai culture’s sex/gender system. The authors then expertly analyze the narratives to illuminate common themes and constructions within this group, allowing an opportunity for contrast and discussion on transgender experiences in other nations.

Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth analyzes the major themes in the stories, including:

• identities
• definitions and descriptive labels
• etiologies of sao braphet song-ness
• the notion of acceptance
• narrator motivations for participating in the project

Male Bodies, Women’s Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth is illuminating, reflective reading for educators, undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, or anyone interested in discovering more about transgenderism in a specific cultural context.

A comprehensive and important text for health care professionals

Gender variance is widely misunderstood, and few medical texts examine the social, legal, emotional, historical, biological, and economic issues involved. Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery provides medical and health care guidelines and comprehensive information on all aspects of treatment of gender diverse individuals. This one-of-a-kind resource examines a full range of relevant data important to health care professionals. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of care, written by an authority on that sub-specialty. This practical guide instructs both novices and experienced practitioners on the state-of-the-art treatments and knowledge.

Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery presents the foremost international specialists on the issues, offering their expert knowledge on the wide spectrum of issues encountered by gender diverse individuals. In this handy text, professionals of all types can get important information about various aspects of transgender health care. This essential text is extensively referenced, and includes numerous photos, tables, and figures to clearly illustrate information.

Topics in Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery include:

• etiology
• primary medical care
• evidence-based preventive care
• hormone treatment of adults and juvenile transsexual patients
• general principles of surgical therapy
• reassignment surgery
• mental health issues
• developmental stages of the coming out process
• reproduction issues
• fertility issues
• karyotyping and genetics
• intersex individuals
• gender identity disorders
• aging and the care of elderly transgender patients

Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery is an essential guide for health care professionals, educators, students, patients, and patients’ families.

• Introduction
• Early Theories of the Etiology of Transsexualism
• Recent Theories of the Etiology of Transsexualism
• The Current Status of the Attempt to Identify the Etiology of Gender Variation

• Introduction
• The Spectrum of Gender Identity and Expression
• Transgender Health Care
• Ten Principles of Transgender Medical Care
• Conclusion

• Introduction
• Challenges in Providing Preventive Care to the Transgendered Population
• Evidence-Based Transgender Health Care
• Preventive Care Recommendations
• Conclusion

• Introduction
• General Principles of Treatment
• Hormonal Sex Reassignment
• Side Effects of Hormonal Sex Reassignment
• Sexual Function After Sex Reassignment
• Regrets After Sex Reassignment
• Juvenile Gender Dysphoria

• Introduction
• Controversies Surrounding Surgery
• Ethical and Legal Challenges
• Financial Aspects
• Surgeries for Gender Reassignment
• Conditions for Surgical Interventions
• Standards of Care of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association

• History of Male-to-Female Surgery
• Male-to-Female Gender Reassignment Surgery: An Overview

• History of Female-to-Male Surgery
• Subcutaneous Mastectomy
• Phalloplasty
• The Importance of a Multidisciplinary Approach

• Mental Health Issues in the History of Sex Reassignment
• Practical Aspects of Clinical Care
• Writing Recommendations and Reports

• Introduction
• Coming Out As a Developmental Process
• Conclusion

• Introduction
• Transpeople and Their Children
• Ethical Arguments in Favor of Fertility Preservation
• Cryopreservation of Sperm in Transwomen
• Donor Inseminations in Partners of Transmen
• Cryopreservation of Oocytes, Embryos, or Ovarian Tissue in Transmen
• Future Possibilities

• Introduction
• What Is a Karyotype?
• What Is a Variant Karyotype?
• Chromosomal Variance, Phenotypic Variance, and Gender Identity
• Variant Karyotypes or Forms of Intersex in the Transgender Population
• Is Gender Identity Genetic?
• Intersexed or Transgendered?
• Recommendations
• Conclusion

• Introduction
• Intersexuality Defined
• Typical Sexual Differentiation Process
• Intersex Syndromes and Related Conditions
• Appendix A

• Introduction
• Classification
• Epidemiology
• Clinical Picture
• Appendix A: DSM-IV Criteria for Gender Identity Disorder in Children and Adolescents

• Introduction
• Successful Aging and its Predictors: The Concept of “Aging Well”
• Transgender Aging and Health Care
• Transgender Aging and Social Adjustment
• Graceful Exits: Living and Dying Well
• Conclusion

Candid, first-hand accounts of couples who stay together despite highly emotional gender issues

Head Over Heels gives voice to thirty ordinary women who live extraordinary lives as partners to crossdressers, transgenderists, and male-to-female transsexuals. These unique women discuss, with honesty and great candor, how they first learned of their partners’ gender issues, how they’ve coped with the emotions that followed, how they’ve dealt with concerns about privacy/secrecy, and how they’ve handled disclosure to children, friends, and family members. Far from a collection of “happily ever after” stories, these narratives are filled with pain, courage, curiosity, and joy as each woman struggles to redefine a relationship that includes intimacy, social acceptance, dignity, and respect.

The women whose stories are featured in Head Over Heels didn’t know their partners were gender-variant when they first met. Some found out early on; others learned of their husbands’ gender variance after decades of marriage. Some were told by their husbands—men they considered “regular guys;” others found out on their own, sometimes in shocking ways. Their stories represent a wide spectrum of women’s life experiences with crossdressers, transgenderists, transsexuals who are nonoperative, pre-operative, and post-operative, families without children, families with children at home, and families with children who have left home. But these women share one thing in common: each has decided to stay in her relationship, exploring her new life with an open, yet cautious, heart.

Some of the voices heard in Head Over Heels:

• “While putting my clothes on, I found a sales receipt on the bureau from K-Mart for shoes, a bra, and stockings. My immediate thought was that my husband had a girlfriend.”
• “He dressed for me one night and it was the worst experience of both our lives. I was shocked and he knew it and that hurt him.”
• “My siblings had been aware of Trish’s transsexualism for several years when she went full-time. They have told me that while I will always be welcome in their homes, Trish is not.”
• “My husband may think differently, but I do have a sexual identity. Actually, I’m real clear about it—I am a woman and he is a man. I do not allow him to crossdress in the bedroom. I married a man; therefore, I will sleep with a man.”

Head Over Heels also includes historical and current information about resources and support for wives of gender-variant people, and a substantive introduction that includes basic information about sexual and gender identity and related issues.

Guidelines for Transgender Care is a one-of-a-kind guidebook for training practitioners to meet the healthcare and social services needs of transgender people in their community. Based on a program developed in Vancouver, British Columbia, these guidelines serve the transition-related needs of transsexuals and also address the broader health issues of cross-dressers, drag kings/queens, androgynous individuals, Two Spirit individuals, and people who are bi- or multi-gendered. This practical handbook is an essential resource for community-based family physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, and other clinicians with an interest in transgender care.

Improving transgender individuals’ access to health and social services takes not only awareness of and sensitivity to transgender health concerns but also clinical competency. Guidelines for Transgender Care explains a wide range of issues practitioners need to consider when attempting to provide needed services for transgender individuals. This resource provides best practice guidelines and frameworks for clinical training relating to primary medical care, mental health care, care of transgender adolescents, hormone therapy, speech/voice change, and social and medical advocacy. Each chapter is extensively referenced.

Topics in Guidelines for Transgender Care discussed include:

• primary medical care
• counseling
• clinical management of gender dysphoria
• ethics, the law, and psychosocial issues
• endocrine therapy
• sex reassignment surgery (SRS)
• transgender speech feminization and masculinization
• case advocacy
• training community-based clinicians

Guidelines for Transgender Care is crucial, insightful information for health practitioners of all types, social workers, educators, and students.

Content

• Introduction (Walter O. Bockting and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Transgender Primary Medical Care (Jamie L. Feldman and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Counseling and Mental Health Care for Transgender Adults and Loved Ones (Walter O. Bockting, Gail Knudson, and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Clinical Management of Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents (Annelou L. C. de Vries, Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, and Henriette Delemarre-van de Waal)
• Ethical, Legal, and Psychosocial Issues in Care of Transgender Adolescents (Catherine White Holman and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Physical Aspects of Transgender Endocrine Therapy (Marshall Dahl, Jamie L. Feldman, Joshua M. Goldberg, and Afshin Jaberi)
• Care of the Patient Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) (Cameron Bowman and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Clinical Aspects of Transgender Speech Feminization and Masculinization (Shelagh Davies and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Social and Medical Transgender Case Advocacy (Catherine White Holman and Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Training Community-Based Clinicians in Transgender Care (Joshua M. Goldberg)
• Index
• Reference Notes Included

Transgender medical care involves addressing general medical conditions and those related specifically to transgender issues. This article summarizes existing research in transgender medicine and provides guidance for family physicians and nurses in adapting standard primary care protocols relating to health maintenance, acute illness, and chronic disease management to address trans-specific clinical concerns. Trans-specific issues in physical examination, health history, interpretation of laboratory tests, vaccination, screening, and treatment are explored, and the role of the primary care provider in caring for patients undergoing hormonal or surgical change is discussed.

Keywords:
Transgender, primary medical care, primary care, sex reassignment

Increasingly, transgender individuals and loved ones (partners, family, and friends) are seeking assistance from mental health professionals working in the community rather than in university or hospital-based gender identity clinics. Drawing on published literature specific to transgender mental health, interviews with expert clinicians, the authors’ clinical experience, and three key guiding principles (a transgender-affirmative approach, client-centered care, and a commitment to harm reduction), we suggest protocols for the clinician providing mental health services in the community setting. Practice areas discussed include assessment and treatment of gender concerns, trans-specific mental health issues, and trans-specific elements in general counseling of transgender individuals and their loved ones.

Keywords:
Transgender, mental health, counseling, gender dysphoria

This paper aims to provide professionals working with adolescents with gender-dysphoric feelings practical clinical guidelines for diagnosis and treatment. The different phases of the assessment procedure and treatment process are described. Differential diagnostic considerations and possible psychotherapeutic treatment options are given. Physical interventions, including GnRH analogues to inhibit puberty and cross-sex hormones, are described with consideration of eligibility and readiness issues. We end with discussion of post-treatment evaluation.

Keywords:
Gender identity disorder, gender dysphoria, adolescents, clinical guidelines, treatment

Complete care for transgender adolescents must be considered in the context of a holistic approach that includes comprehensive primary care as well as cultural, economic, psychosocial, sexual, and spiritual influences on health. Not all transgender adolescents have gender dysphoria or wish to undergo sex reassignment. In this article we focus on general care of transgender adolescents by the non-specialist working in primary care, family services, schools, child welfare, mental health, and other community settings.

Keywords:
Transgender, transsexual, crossdressing, gender variance, adolescent, adolescence

The goal of transgender endocrine therapy is to change secondary sex characteristics to reduce gender dysphoria and/or facilitate gender presentation that is consistent with the felt sense of self. To maximize desired effects and minimize adverse effects, endocrine therapy must be individualized based on the patient’s goals, the risk/benefit ratio of medications, the presence of other medical conditions, and consideration of social and economic issues. In this article we suggest protocols for the prescribing clinician relating to physical assessment, prescription planning, initiation of endocrine therapy, and ongoing maintenance in transgender adults.

Keywords:
Transgender, gender dysphoria, sex reassignment, hormones, sex steroids, endocrine therapy

Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) has proven to be an effective intervention for the patient with gender dysphoria. As with any surgery, the quality of care provided before, during, and after SRS has a significant impact on patient outcomes. This article is intended to help primary care providers who are already familiar with routine transgender care to understand the specialized processes involved in SRS. Topics include guidelines for the recommendation of SRS, feminizing and masculinizing surgical procedures, suggested timelines for various interventions, expected course and recovery, risks and complications, and revisional surgery that may be required.

Keywords:
Transgender, transsexual, gender dysphoria, sex reassignment surgery

Societal norms of speech, voice, and non-verbal communication are often strongly gendered. For transgender individuals who experience a mismatch between existing communication behaviours and felt sense of self, changes to the gendered aspects of communication can help reduce gender dysphoria, improving mental health and quality of life. While peer resources are often beneficial in changing overall appearance and presentation, speech and voice modification is best facilitated by a trans-competent speech professional. In this article we review clinical research relating to transgender speech and voice change and discuss clinical protocols for trans-specific assessment, treatment, and outcome evaluation.

Keywords:
Transgender, speech, voice, gender transition, gender dysphoria

While some clients are confident self-advocates, many transgender individuals and loved ones find it difficult to advocate for themselves and turn to a trusted clinician for assistance. This article discusses the role of the health and social service clinician in transgender case advocacy. Although the setting, circumstances, and client needs vary greatly, the overarching goal of clinical advocacy is to address the societal barriers that interfere with clients’ functionality and well-being. We suggest a protocol for advocacy assessment in the clinical setting and discuss trans-specific advocacy concerns relating to financial assistance, employment, changing identification, general advocacy, and outline concerns of specific populations within the transgender community.

Keywords:
Transgender, transsexual, crossdressing, gender variance, advocacy

Community-based care of transgender individuals can help promote access for individuals whose needs are not well met by a centralized, institution-based system. As there is wide variability in transgender expertise and familiarity among community-based practitioners, practice guidelines and clinical training are needed to promote consistency and quality of care. This article suggests frameworks for training clinicians working in the community setting. Suggested core competencies are followed by an outline for basic, intermediate, and advanced levels of clinical training, and a discussion of education priorities.

Keywords:
Transgender, education, training, cultural competence, clinical competence

Gain an in-depth understanding of the issues, concerns, and problems faced by transgender individuals

Transgender Subjectivities is a comprehensive guide for understanding the issues and concerns of the emerging transgender phenomenon. As transgender individuals become more ‘out’ in society, the need to understand their concerns, the problems they face, and the resources available to them becomes rapidly more acute. This book offers a diverse yet coherent view of this ever-expanding field. It provides an overview of transsexual manifestations designed to expose therapists as well as the general public to this actively expanding field.

In Transgender Subjectivities, experts in transgender studies examine historical, theoretical, clinical, and subjective aspects of the transgender experience. The contributors include some of the most respected and experienced clinicians and scholars in the field, such as Aaron H. Devor and Anne A. Lawrence, as well as several cutting-edge contemporary theorists, and a number of eloquent transsexual writers—including Dallas Denny and Griffin Hansbury—giving this book a wide and varied perspective.

Topics addressed in Transgender Subjectivities include:

• the origin of the ‘transsexual phenomenon’
• issues of guilt in the process of self-acceptance of gender nonconformity
• personal accounts of individuals who have coped with the experience of transgenderism
• the impact of transsexual transition on the children and partners of transitioning individuals
• the various manifestations of—and responses to—transsexuality
• resource and psychotherapeutic guidelines for specialists as well as non-specialists
• and much more!

Featuring a variety of voices from case studies and theoretical analyses to personal experiences and reflections, Transgender Subjectivities renders a difficult and expansive subject comprehensible to the novice, while at the same time offering insight and challenge to experts in the field. Not only is this an essential resource for clinicians, but it can also educate the general public about transgender issues, helping to dispel prejudice toward a sexual minority. This compact but wide-ranging guide will make you transgender-literate regardless of your current level of expertise.

Abstract:
The following autobiographical essay covers the events and emotions of the author’s first week on testosterone in July of 1995, when, at the age of 24, he began his journey from female to male. In the years since, the number of female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs, transmen, etc.) has grown considerably and many of them seek counseling and support from social service agencies and private practitioners, especially in the early days of their transitions. Transition is, in many ways, a second adolescence, both a joyful and stress-filled time. The effects of testosterone on the female body and mind are powerful, stimulating, and sometimes unnerving. This essay provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into one transman’s experience.

Keywords:
female-to-male, FTM, male gaze, sex change, sex drive, sexual reassignment, testosterone, transman, transsexual.

Abstract:
The author, a male to female transsexual psychiatrist, provides a personal account of several unsuccessful psychotherapeutic attempts to resolve her gender dysphoria prior to sex-reassignment surgery.

Keywords:
gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, transsexual psychiatrist, transsexualism.

Abstract:
The second half of the twentieth century saw the development within the psychological and medical communities of a transsexual model and procedures for identifying, describing, and treating individuals who sought sex reassignment. This model viewed transsexualism as a form of mental illness characterized by a pervasive and ongoing wish to be a member of the other sex. The model prescribes a set of medical and social procedures called sex reassignment, whereby an individual changed gender assignment. The 1990s saw the rise of a new model which explained transsexualism as a natural form of human variability. This model, which continues to gain prominence, views sex reassignment as but one of a variety of acceptable life choices for transsexual individuals, and recognizes the need and right of nontranssexual transgendered people to make similar choices. This paper discusses both models and touches on the social and treatment implications of the rise of the transgender model.

Keywords:
Cross dresser, diagnostic and statistical manual, gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, gender-variant, HIV, sex reassignment, transgender, transsexual

Abstract:
Coming to recognize oneself as transsexual involves a number of stages of exploration and analysis on both an interpersonal and intrapersonal level over the course of many years. A model encompassing fourteen possible stages is proposed:

1. Abiding Anxiety,
2. Identity Confusion About Originally Assigned Gender and Sex,
3. Identity Comparisons About Originally Assigned Gender and Sex,
4. Discovery of Transsexualism,
5. Identity Confusion about Transsexualism,
6. Identity Comparisons about Transsexualism,
7. Tolerance of Transsexual Identity,
8. Delay Before Acceptance of Transsexual Identity,
9. Acceptance of Transsexualism Identity,
10. Delay Before Transition,
11. Transition,
12. Acceptance of Posttransition Gender and Sex Identities,
13. Integration, and
14. Pride.

Keywords:
anxiety, female-to-male, FTM, identity formation, male-to-female, mirroring, MTF, sex reassignment, sociology, transgender, transsexual, witnessing.

Abstract:
Autogynephilia is defined as a male’s propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as female. Autogynephilia explains the desire for sex reassignment of some male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals. It can be conceptualized as both a paraphilia and a sexual orientation. The concept of autogynephilia provides an alternative to the traditional model of transsexualism that emphasizes gender identity. Autogynephilia helps explain mid-life MTF gender transition, progression from transvestism to transsexualism, the prevalence of other paraphilias among MTF transsexuals, and late development of sexual interest in male partners. Hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery can be effective treatments in autogynephilic transsexualism. The concept of autogynephilia can help clinicians better understand MTF transsexual clients who recognize a strong sexual component to their gender dysphoria.

Keywords:
arousal, autogynephilia, cross-dressing, gender dysphoria, gender identity, paraphilia, sex reassignment, sexual orientation, transsexual, transvestism.

Abstract:
Recent transgender literature has been sharply critical of existing medical models of the psychosexual development of transsexuals and of the treatment of Gender Identity Disorder. Transgender authors have pointed out how subjects have deliberately falsified their reports in order to conform to medical and psychiatric models for the sake of gaining access to services. In newer transsexual narratives, gender and sexual orientation development appear far more fluid and ambiguous over the life span.

This paper reviews the nosological history of gender atypicality, from nineteenth century “sexual inversion” to transvestitism and transsexualism, examining how deviations of gender identity, gender role, sexual object, and sexual aim were often collapsed together. These imbrications continue to persist in both the medical and popular literature on transsexualism.

A topic that has especially been neglected is the relationship of ethnicity to the development of gender and sexual identity. Presented is case material gathered from dynamic psychotherapy with a Latina, transgendered sex worker which illustrates the articulations of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in both the transgendered subject and her heterosexuallyidentified male partners.

Keywords:
cross-dressing, ethnicity, gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, GID, homosexuality, latina, latino, psychotherapy, sex

Abstract:
The diagnosis and treatment of 271 transgendered patients is described. Characteristics of the transgendered patients seen by the author between 1979 and 2001 reveal four distinct groups not specified in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) description. These characteristics are important because they determine the internal and external difficulties the patients present to the clinician. Statistics on age, gender, relationships, occupation, education, drug/alcohol abuse, secondary diagnoses and sexual orientation of each subgroup are presented and discussed.

Keywords:
Cross-dressing, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, gender dysphoria, gender identity, gender identity disorder, GID, mood disorder, sex reassignment, transgender, transsexual

Abstract:
Guilt in cross gender conditions is one of the most difficult manifestations of inner conflict to identify and measure accurately. While developing psychometric measurements of guilt in gender identity conditions in adults, the authors noted recurring themes in virtually all clients in their clinical practice over the past 25 years. To test their initial impressions of themes of guilt, the authors gathered data from both clinical experience and from research studies specifically designed to identify areas in which patients reported feelings of guilt. Data were gathered on a total of 787 patients, of which 685 were preand 102 post-operative. They found thirteen themes of guilt in their subjects. The authors believe that understanding the primary sources of the special kind of guilt connected with gender dysphoria is crucial to understanding the gender dysphoric person. A major goal of their treatment is the elimination of the crippling effects of guilt. One of the authors offers examples from her clinical practice for this approach to psychotherapy.

Keywords:
Gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, guilt, psychometric measures, psychotherapy, sex reassignment, transgender, transsexual

Abstract:

Objective: This study attempts to delineate the effects on children within different stages of development whose parent undergoes a transition to the opposite sex.:

Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to therapists who have considerable experience working with gender dysphoric patients. These therapists were queried about their experience with individuals who had children prior to the start of their transition. Variables such as the nature and manner of disclosure to the child and the nature of the relationships between the child and each parent were evaluated.

Results: Children in the preschool years were rated as adapting best to the transition, both initially and long-term. Adults also were able to adapt well, so long as the level of conflict between parents was low. Adolescents had the most difficult time adapting to a parental transition. The level of family conflict worsened the child’s adaptation across all developmental levels. The therapists delineated both risk and protective factors for children during such a situation.:

Conclusions: While a parent undergoing a gender transition is not a neutral event, both risk and protective factors do exist, and knowledge of these may be beneficial in assisting the child’s adaptation to the situation. Adolescents appear to have the most difficult time adapting to a parental transition and extra support may be needed for this group. These findings are discussed in light of identified resilience factors in children and approaches that therapists can employ to best assist families found in such a situation. Case examples are provided.

Keywords:
Adolescent, child, divorce, gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, gender role, gender transition, GID, parenting, sexual reassignment, transgender, transsexual

Abstract:
Harry Benjamin, MD, was a pioneer physician who founded the transgender field and coined the term “transsexual.” Benjamin drew criticism from some in the psychiatric community when he began treating transgendered people with cross-gender hormones and encouragement in their efforts in transitioning. By and large psychiatrists o this time considered gender dysphoria as a manifestation of significant psychopathology and considered the treatment Benjamin was then prescribing as psychiatrically contraindicated. Rather than discouraging Benjamin, this response simply reinforced his feeling that psychiatry as a discipline lacked “common sense.”

The author worked with Dr. Benjamin for 6 years, was to become his heir apparent, but then left the practice to undertake a psychiatric residency. This paper chronicles changes in the author’s own life and conceptual thinking about transsexualism during this time. Some years later the author finally learned the true extent of Dr. Benjamin’s feelings about these events.

Keywords:
Harry Benjamin, homosexuality, psychiatry psychoanalysis, sexual reassignment, transgender, transsexuality

Contents:

• Preface (Judith Lorber)
• Acknowledgments
• The Absolutely Fabulous But Flawlessly Customary World of Drag Queens and Female Impersonators (Steven P. Schacht and Lisa Underwood)
• A Lovely War: Male to Female Cross-Dressing and Canadian Military Entertainment in World War II (Laurel Halladay)
• Wigs, Laughter, and Subversion: Charles Busch and the Strategies of Drag Performance (Richard Niles)
• The Beauty and the Beast: Reflections About the Socio-Historical and Subcultural Context of Drag Queens and „Tunten“ in Berlin (Carsten Balzer)
• Moffies, Artists, and Queens: Race and the Production of South African Gay Male Drag (Amanda Lock Swarr)
• Ad/Dressing the Nation: Drag and Authenticity in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Jennifer Spruill)
• Chicks with Dicks, Men in Dresses: What it Means to be a Drag Queen (Verta Taylor and Leila J. Rupp)
• “Let the Drag Race Begin”: The Rewards of Becoming a Queen (Steven J. Hopkins)
• Transformance: Reading the Gospel in Drag (Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr.)
• Kind of a Drag: Gender, Race, and Ambivalence in The Birdcage and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (Mary Kirk)
• Racializing White Drag (Ragan Rhyne)
• Balancing Acts: Drag Queens, Gender and Faith (Constance R. Sullivan-Blum)
• A Comparative Analysis of Hijras and Drag Queens: The Subversive Possibilities and Limits of Parading Effeminacy and Negotiating Masculinity (Sandeep Bakshi)
• Beyond the Boundaries of the Classroom: Teaching About Gender and Sexuality at a Drag Show (Steven P. Schacht)
• Index
• Reference Notes Included

The information in From Toads to Queens: Transvestism in a Latin American Setting is crucial to understanding Latin American culture and its relation to HIV prevention. You’ll find research findings that offer insights into and analysis of the sexual culture and risk factors that place transvestites in the sex trade and their customers at risk of contracting HIV. This information could prove valuable to developing preventions and interventions for similar populations in countries all over the world.

In From Toads to Queens, transvestites in the sex trade and their customers share fascinating personal accounts from their daily lives, including details of their sexual encounters. Specifically you will gain insight into:

• sexual practices
• pay rates in the sex trade
• types of lovers and sexual partners
• locations of “work”
• conceptions of fashion and beauty among transvestites
• relations between transvestites, the police, and gay bashers
• clients who are heterosexual men
• drug consumption and unsafe sex.

From this book, you will gain a comprehensive analysis of Latin transvestites, how this population questions assumptions about sexual orientation and practice, and how they are affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Most importantly, From Toads to Queens documents boundary-crossing individuals’ existence and subverts the simplistic division of people into traditional psychiatric categories, a crucial first step in devising ways to decrease the rates of HIV infection among specific populations.

Enhance your expertise wit the most up-to-date information about gender identity disorders in Gender dysphoria. This book stresses the need to evaluate and treat gender dysphoria in the context of the individual’s overall mental and physical health. The contributors, who are international experts in the clinical management of gender dysphoria, present valuable, contemporary approaches in assessment, psychological and medical treatment, and adjustment of individuals with gender identity disorders.

Inside you will find a wealth of topics relating to gender dysphoria and how it affects an individual’s physical, psychological, social, and sexual adjustment including

• terminology and classification of gender identity disorders
• Cross-Gender Questionnaire, a newly developed clinical assessment tool
• hormone therapy options, physical results, and side effects
• the influence of hormone therapy on the psychological functioning of transsexuals
• reported regrets of post-surgical transsexuals
• gender dysphoria and gender mutilation in young boys
• a model for identifying and treating gender identity disorder in females
• a thorough description of a comprehensive treatment approach for a wide spectrum on gender dysphoria