A Background on Transsexualism
Lynn Conway‘s (1938-2024) website contains a trove of useful and relevant information. Lynn was an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and trans activist, and her website continues to be hosted by the University of Michigan.
- Lynn’s story
- Gender basics and transgenderism (pt. I)
- MtF Transsexualism (pt. II)
- Life as a woman after TS transition (pt. III)
- TS women’s successes (updated 2006)
- TS men’s successes (updated 2015)
Harry Benjamin (1885-1986) was a German-American endocrinologist, sexologist, and pioneer of medical research in transsexualism.
- His 1966 book The Transsexual Phenomenon was the first large work describing and explaining the affirmative treatment path for transsexuals. This is available as a PDF online here.
- In 1979 the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association was founded, which became WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) in 2006.
- Charlotte Goiar wrote a follow-up, The Original Harry Benjamin Syndrome Book, to show how those with socially constructed gender theory arguments are riding upon the back of Harry Benjamin’s work to gain sympathy for their cause.
Recommended Reading
The Tired Transsexual – Substack
- What Happens When ‘Transgender’ Erases Transsexuals and then Disappears Itself? Feb 2025
- The Weight That Cannot Be Set Down: On Dissonance, Duty, and the Sacred Burden of Existence, Jan 2025
- The Roadmap of “Transgenderism”: Deciphering Holly Boswell’s 1991 Manifesto, Oct 2023
- Transsexual Healthcare: It’s About Alleviating Sex Dysphoria, Not Affirming “A Gender Identity”, Sept 2023
- Who’s Really Anti-Trans? How the Cultural Genocide of Transsexual Identity Is Fueling the Backlash We Face Today, Sept 2023
Religion
History of Sexology
- Sex between Body and Mind: Psychoanalysis and Sexology in the German-speaking World, 1890s-1930s, by Katie Sutton
- Some of the earliest work on transsexualism was started by Magnus Hirschfield in the German scientific world in the late 19th century, which is described here.
Scientific Reading
An overview:
Genetic Factors and Transsexualism
- Hines, Melissa, Mihaela Constantinescu, and Debra Spencer. “Early androgen exposure and human gender development.” Biology of sex differences 6 (2015): 1-10.
- Ammerpohl, Ole, Susanne Bens, Mahesh Appari, Ralf Werner, Bernhard Korn, Stenvert LS Drop, Frans Verheijen et al. “Androgen receptor function links human sexual dimorphism to DNA methylation.” PLoS One 8, no. 9 (2013): e73288.
- Diamond, Milton. “Intersex and Transsex: Atypical Gender Development and Social Constr.” Psychology 10, no. 1: 46-54.
Harvard - Hines, Melissa. “Prenatal endocrine influences on sexual orientation and on sexually differentiated childhood behavior.” Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32, no. 2 (2011): 170-182.
- McCarthy, Margaret M., and Arthur P. Arnold. “Reframing sexual differentiation of the brain.” Nature neuroscience 14, no. 6 (2011): 677-683.
- McCarthy, Margaret M., Anthony P. Auger, Tracy L. Bale, Geert J. De Vries, Gregory A. Dunn, Nancy G. Forger, Elaine K. Murray, Bridget M. Nugent, Jaclyn M. Schwarz, and Melinda E. Wilson. “The epigenetics of sex differences in the brain.” Journal of Neuroscience 29, no. 41 (2009): 12815-12823.
- Wilson, C. A., and D. C. Davies. “The control of sexual differentiation of the reproductive system and brain.” Reproduction 133, no. 2 (2007): 331-359.
- Landén, Mikael. “Transsexualism. Epidemiology, phenomenology, regret after surgery, aetiology, and public attitudes.” (1999).
- Dörner, Günther, Ingrid Poppe, F. Stahl, J. Kölzsch, and Ralf Uebelhack. “Gene-and environment-dependent neuroendocrine etiogenesis of homosexuality and transsexualism.” Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes 98, no. 05 (1991): 141-150.
There are many more science papers on this spreadsheet put together by a kind fellow TS and I’m in the process of getting more of it on this website for easy access:
Transsex Advocacy Network 