Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity—their personal sense of their own gender—and their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until 2013 with the release of the diagnostic manual DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder.
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alleviate gender dysphoria. The term is also sometimes used to describe surgical intervention for intersex people. It is also known as sex reassignment surgery (SRS), gender confirmation surgery (GCS), and several other names.
Harry Benjamin was a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist, widely known for his clinical work with transgender people.
The Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People (SOC) is an international clinical protocol by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) outlining the recommended assessment and treatment for transgender and gender-diverse individuals across the lifespan including social, hormonal, or surgical transition. It often influences clinicians' decisions regarding patients' treatment. While other standards, protocols, and guidelines exist – especially outside the United States – the WPATH SOC is the most widespread protocol used by professionals working with transgender or gender-variant people.
John William Money was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and biology of gender. He was one of the first researchers to publish theories on the influence of societal constructs of gender on individual formation of gender identity. Money introduced the terms gender role and sexual orientation and popularised the terms gender identity and paraphilia.
Christine Jorgensen was an American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. She had a successful career as an actress, singer, and recording artist.
Sex reassignment therapy or medical transition is the medical aspect of gender transition, that is, modifying one's sex characteristics to better suit one's gender identity. It can consist of hormone therapy to alter secondary sex characteristics, sex reassignment surgery to alter primary sex characteristics, and other procedures altering appearance, such as permanent hair removal for trans women.
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. Transgender is an umbrella term that includes different types of gender variant people. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men choose to undergo surgical or hormonal transition, or both, to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.
Russell Reid is a retired consultant psychiatrist who specialized in sexual and gender-related conditions. He is particularly known for his work with gender identity disorder patients. Richard Curtis took over his practice after his retirement. Reid grew up in New Zealand and worked privately in the United Kingdom. Britain's best-known expert on gender reassignment, he was a member of the parliamentary forum on transsexualism.
Richard Green was an American-British sexologist, psychiatrist, lawyer, and author specializing in homosexuality and transsexualism, specifically gender identity disorder in children. Green was the founding editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior (1971), and served as Editor until 2001. He was also the founding president of the International Academy of Sex Research (1975), which made the Archives its official publication. He served on the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark is the main mover of the AIDS Education and Global Information System database, previously a pre-World Wide Web bulletin board system.
Feminizing hormone therapy, also known as transfeminine hormone therapy, is hormone therapy and sex reassignment therapy to change the secondary sex characteristics of transgender people from masculine or androgynous to feminine. It is a common type of transgender hormone therapy and is used to treat transgender women and non-binary transfeminine individuals. Some, in particular intersex people but also some non-transgender people, take this form of therapy according to their personal needs and preferences.
O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner 134 T.C. 34 (2010) is a case decided by the United States Tax Court. The issue for the court was whether a taxpayer who has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder can deduct sex reassignment surgery costs as necessary medical expenses under 26 U.S.C. § 213. The IRS argued that such surgery is cosmetic and not medically necessary. On Feb 2, 2010 the court ruled that O'Donnabhain should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder, including sex-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments. In its decision, the court found the IRS position was "at best a superficial characterization of the circumstances" that is "thoroughly rebutted by the medical evidence".
Ira Basil Pauly is an American psychiatrist who was an All American college football player at UCLA, and is known for his influential work on transsexualism.
In the study of transsexualism, the essentialist idea of a feminine essence refers to the proposal that trans women are females trapped in male bodies. This idea has been interpreted in many senses, as a female mind, spirit, soul, personality, etc., as well as in more literal senses such as having a female brain structure; it is also a psychological narrative, that is, a self-description of how some transsexuals see themselves, or of how they may portray themselves to qualify for certain medical treatments.
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.
The Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (AAP) is a professional organization created to advance methods of psychotherapy among members of the medical profession and to familiarize members with progress in the field. Organized in 1939, Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy publishes the quarterly American Journal of Psychotherapy.
Dallas Denny is a writer, editor, behavior analyst, and leader in the transgender rights movement.
Christian Hamburger was a Danish endocrinologist. He worked in Copenhagen and was the doctor responsible for Christine Jorgensen's sex reassignment, and she would choose her name in honor of him.
The Transsexual Phenomenon is a medical textbook published by American endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin in 1966 with The Julian Press. The text is notable for its examination of transsexualism not as a psychological issue, but rather as a somatic disorder that should be treated through medicine. Benjamin argues that transvestism and transsexuality are a spectrum of conditions, requiring different treatments that ranged from hormone replacement therapy to surgical intervention.
