Science, Politics and Clinical Intervention: Harry Benjamin, Transsexualism                 and the Problem of Heteronormativity

Ekins, Richard

doi:10.1177/1363460705049578

Cited by 27 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…Like Hirschfeld, Benjamin had incisive experience with psychoanalytical theory. Because he admired the work of Eugen Steinach (Benjamin, 1945), a physiologist at the University of Vienna (1861Vienna ( -1944, Benjamin went to Vienna every summer between 1921 and the late 1930s (Ekins, 2005). On one of his visits he met Freud and turned to him for advice on his own problems with sexual potency.…”

Section: How Is Transgender Care Rooted In Germany?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Transgender health care in Germany: Participatory approaches and the development of a guideline

Nieder

Strauß

2015

International Review of Psychiatry

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Health care of individuals who experience their gender not, not completely and/or not continuously in line with their sex assigned at birth has been organized for a long time in an area of conflict between the right for self-determination of transgender individuals and the fear of incorrect decisions among mental health professionals. The German Standards for the Treatment and Diagnostic Assessment of Transsexuals, published in 1997, were an attempt to regulate this area of conflicts within the German health system. Meanwhile, in view of the seventh version of the international Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) as well as based upon recent judgments of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany, the German standards must be exigently revised. In consequence, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sexualforschung (DGfS, German Society for Sex Research) has begun to substitute the above-mentioned standards with an evidence-based guideline aiming at an improvement of the service quality. This article introduces the history of transgender care in Germany, describes the background and the procedures of the current guideline development, and discusses how participatory approaches might improve the health care situation for transgender peeople in Germany.

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Section: How Is Transgender Care Rooted In Germany?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Transgender health care in Germany: Participatory approaches and the development of a guideline

Nieder

Strauß

2015

International Review of Psychiatry

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“…The present work, therefore, has two distinct but related aims. In the first part I intend to utilise the research conducted by contemporary scholars on Iranian sexual health (Roudsari, Javadnoori, Hasanpour, Hazavehei, & Taghipour, ), transgender studies (Ekins, ; Javaheri, ; Shakerifar, ), queer theory (Shannahan, ), psychoanalytic research (Homayounpour, ) and sexual economy (Afary, ). I employ this literature in order to construct two “fictionalised” case profiles.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual Dysfunction(s) in Iran: Imaginary Encounters with Otto Gross and Wilhelm Reich

Fozooni

2014

Psychotherapy and Politics International

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The article has two distinct but related aims. In the first part, I draw on previous research on Iranian sexual therapy, transgender studies, queer theory, psychoanalytic research and sexual economy to construct two clients. The first client is the subject of a Grossian, the second a Reichian, analysis. The symptoms were chosen to bring out the salient features of Gross and Reich's work, and to convey something of the complex psychological conflicts experienced by contemporary Iranians. In the second part of the article, I critique the limitations of Gross and Reich, while retaining those elements of their work still relevant to sexual emancipation.

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“…Like Hirschfeld, Benjamin had incisive experience of psychoanalytical theory. Because Vienna was -next to Berlin -the birthplace of nineteenth-century sexology and because he admired the work of Eugen Steinach (Benjamin, 1945), a physiologist at the University of Vienna (1861Vienna ( -1944, Benjamin went to Vienna every summer between 1921 and the late 1930s (Ekins, 2005). On one of his visits, he met Freud and turned to him for advice on his own problems with sexual potency.…”

Section: The Scientific and Clinical Examination Of Transsexualism: Fmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…But ironically, due to the medical model established by Benjamin the gender binary was stabilised again. For all those transgender people wishing to transcend heteronormativity without medical or somatical interventions, the possibility and feasibility offered by the medical model of cross-sex treatment complicated their way of life (Ekins, 2005).…”

Section: The Scientific and Clinical Examination Of Transsexualism: Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tertium non datur– either/or reactions to transsexualism amongst health care professionals: the situation past and present, and its relevance to the future

Nieder

Richter‐Appelt

2011

Psychology & Sexuality

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According to the principle of the excluded third (tertium non datur) the gender binary divides our social life into two options only: male or female. Similarly, either/or reactions also seem to be applied by people dealing professionally with issues of transsexualism, transgenderism or related statuses. For instance, the history of transsexualism is characterised by attempts to classify transsexual people hierarchically and descriptively. The primary intention was to discriminate between different types of transsexualism to prescribe hormonal and surgical treatment for 'real' transsexual people and to recommend psychotherapy aiming at relieving gender dysphoria for all the others. In this regard, from the early beginnings sexologists have argued about the origins of transsexualism, because the type of origin -the professionals assumed -legitimises a specific kind of treatment, for example psychotherapy for psychological issues and somatic cross-sex treatment for biological issues. Consequently, psychoanalysts and biologically orientated professionals have debated at great lengths about state-of-the-art treatment for transsexual people. Furthermore, to pass as a 'real' transsexual, most of the people concerned presented themselves in a very schematic way.The main focus of this article is the long-standing history of either/or reactions in health care professionals dealing with issues of transsexualism and related states. In addition, it elaborates on the iatrogenic influence on the behaviour of transsexual people of the biases of health care professionals. Finally, in highlighting perspectives of recent trans theory, conclusions important for the debate of current issues are drawn and ideas for the future of care are developed.

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Science, Politics and Clinical Intervention: Harry Benjamin, Transsexualism and the Problem of Heteronormativity

Cited by 27 publications

References 23 publications

Transgender health care in Germany: Participatory approaches and the development of a guideline

Transgender health care in Germany: Participatory approaches and the development of a guideline

Sexual Dysfunction(s) in Iran: Imaginary Encounters with Otto Gross and Wilhelm Reich

Tertium non datur– either/or reactions to transsexualism amongst health care professionals: the situation past and present, and its relevance to the future

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