Praeger Handbook of Transsexuality: Changing Gender to Match Mindset by Rachel Ann Heath, Rachel Ann Heath

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Synopsis

When the movie Transamerica--about a pre-operative man in the week before he became a woman--won two Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award in early 2006, cheers went up around the world from the real and growing transsexual community. In fact, people born with one gender's sexual organs who are drawn physically, psychologically, and spiritually to life as a member of the opposite gender, are more common than is generally realized. Gender reassignment surgery is being performed worldwide, from Beverly Hills to New York, and from Canada to England, Switzerland, Australia, Thailand and Hong Kong. In this unprecedented book, Professor Heath introduces the transsexual mindset, explaining how identity discord develops and what the most recent research shows about a potential biological basis. She details the history of transsexuality, the psychological, social, and family issues transsexuals face, and the associated legal and human rights issues. Diagrams depicting the major elements in Gender Reassignment Surgery are included, as are explanations of the physiological and psychological effects of hormone therapy and associated procedures for transsexuals, their outcomes, and potential complications. The book covers pioneers in gender reassignment such as sexologist Harry Benjamin, M.D., and famous transsexed people including Christine Jorgenson, who made headlines worldwide in 1952 and 1953. Appendices offer lists of support groups and other resources for transsexual men, women, and family members, a link to a list of surgeons worldwide performing GRS, a glossary of transsexed terms, and a summary of the Harry Benjamin Gender Dysphoria Association, the largestinternational organization focused on transsexuality.

Biography

RACHEL ANN HEATH is Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. The author of six books and 18 book chapters, she has earned more than $500,000 in competitive research grants in Australia and the United Kingdom. One of the pioneers in applying chaos theory in both psychology and medicine, she obtained her Ph.D. in psychology from McMaster University in Canada.