On the Nature and Amelioration of Gender Dysphoria Alley Stoughton - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

On the Nature and Amelioration of Gender Dysphoria

Alley Stoughton Kansas State University “Extremism and the Excluded Middle” The 17th Annual Cultural Studies Conference Kansas State University March 7, 2008 Full Paper: http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~stough/cultural/

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Sex

A sex is the aggregate of a person’s:

• sex chromosomes,
• gonads,
• internal and external genitalia,
• sex hormonal systems,
• secondary sex characteristics, and
• brain structure as influenced by prenatal sex hormones.

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Sex

A sex is the aggregate of a person’s:

• sex chromosomes,
• gonads,
• internal and external genitalia,
• sex hormonal systems,
• secondary sex characteristics, and
• brain structure as influenced by prenatal sex hormones.

(I’m using hir, pronounced “hear”, as a gender-neutral pronoun replacing him/her.)

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Finger-length Ratios

A finger-length ratio is computed by dividing the length (tip to bottom

• f crease) of the index finger by the length of the ring finger.

In this example, showing the right hand of a male-to-female transsexual, we get 76.25/75.5 = 1.01, which is significantly above the female average of 0.97.

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Gender

A gender is an aggregate of the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits that shape social relationships, e.g.:

• aggressiveness,
• emotionality,
• tendency to be nurturing,
• risk aversion,
• conversational style,
• body language,
• dress style, etc.

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Gender

A gender is an aggregate of the behavioral, cultural and psychological traits that shape social relationships, e.g.:

• aggressiveness,
• emotionality,
• tendency to be nurturing,
• risk aversion,
• conversational style,
• body language,
• dress style, etc.

(I’m using sie, pronounced “see”, as a gender-neutral pronoun replacing he/she.)

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Finger-length Ratios for Transsexuals and Controls

0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 finger-length ratios (index/ring) straight males (mean .954) male-to-female transsexuals attracted to women (mean .970) straight females (mean .974)

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Gender Dysphoria and Transsexualism

Gender dysphoria is discomfort stemming from an actual or perceived conflict between a person’s

• gender identity,
• attributed gender and
• attributed/assigned sex.

Transsexualism is gender dysphoria, coupled with a desire/plan to make physical and/or social changes to ameliorate that dysphoria.

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