Important series of articles by Dr Em, 'Sexist History at the Heart of the ‘Science’ on Transsexualism, Part I: Benjamin, Ihlenfeld, Money & Ehrhardt'

[R0wantrees]

Uncommonground Media by Dr Em
1/5/2020

'Sexist History at the Heart of the ‘Science’ on Transsexualism, Part I: Benjamin, Ihlenfeld, Money & Ehrhardt'

(extract)
Dr Em explores how the founding fathers of ‘scientific’ research on transgenderism/transsexualism were motivated by sexist beliefs.

"The ‘science’ of the founding fathers of transgenderism/ transsexualism – Harry Benjamin, John Money and Robert Stoller – are still cited and relied upon to change law, to put children on a path of sterilisation and surgery, to remove women’s rights and to argue that all women just naturally want to be treated as second class citizens. For example, Betty Steiner, Ray Blanchard and Kenneth Zucker, current leaders in the field, begin their book with an outline of how ‘Harry Benjamin was one of the first physicians to realize the despair that transsexual patients suffer… In 1968 Robert Stoller published his views on transsexualism from a psychoanalytic perspective… and in 1969 Richard Green and John Money published their coedited book… which has become another standard work in the field’. The NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), a specialised clinic for young people presenting with difficulties with their gender identity subscribes to the views of WPATH. Their website references ‘the Standards of Care of the Harry Benjamin Gender Dysphoria association, which is now the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)’ and they state in other sections that they ‘agree with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that “knowledge of the factors contributing to gender identity development in adolescence is still evolving and not yet fully understood by scientists, clinicians, community members, and other stakeholders in equal measure’.

I am unconvinced by the ‘science’ which gender dysphoria, and thus transsexualism/transgenderism, is based on. What was it that convinced you? Was it the small study of tomboys whose assertive play then ‘proved’ that there are girl brains and boy brains? Or was it the way some of the offspring of stressed out rats have coitus which ‘proved’ that prenatal hormones affect mating and thus a gender identity exists? Or maybe it was the hypothesis that the mother had been over attentive to a male child which made him either feel like a girl or wish to distance himself from the men his mother allegedly hated? Even one of the founding fathers of the idea of transsexualism/transgenderism admitted that the concept was undermined by reality, Stoller made the striking admission that ‘obviously, not all beliefs that are contradicted by reality are delusions’.3 What does that mean? Transgenderism/transsexualism is based on the original science, so after being met with repeated defences of ‘true trans’ or genuine trans have a medical diagnosis I did what I believe we should all do when we can’t get our head around inconsistencies – I turned to the sources. This essay will look at the early ideas of human sex change and emerging field of transsexualism before looking in-depth at the work and ideas of Harry Benjamin and Charles Ihlenfeld, John Money and Anke Ehrhardt. The second essay in this series will explore the work of Robert Stoller, the notion that violence against women is a necessary and natural part of a masculine gender identity and should be encouraged in children. Part two will then question the idea of true trans or genuine trans." (continues)

uncommongroundmedia.com/sexist-science-transsexualism-part-i-benjamin-ihlenfeld-money-ehrhardt/

Thank you R0 always delighted to read DrEM

Brilliant piece, thanks to Dr Em for writing and R0wantrees for the link.

Just read this - really interesting.

I 'knew' there was massive amounts of sexism and homophobia at the root of genderism but to see it blatantly and readily admitted by the 'founding fathers' was still quite shocking.

It's laughable really. All that talk we get about 'science' and what it seems to boil down to is 'it's all mummy's fault'.

Very interesting to view it all through a feminist analysis.

Yes, very interesting read.

It's a fascinating area; I've been studying it for years. Looking forward to part two. She's going to get a hell of a pile-on for the obvious conclusion.

I've never quite understood why people think the fathers of transsexualism had any understanding of feminist analysis. Being a doctor and a scientist doesn't mean you're immune from the cognitive bias of patriarchy-brain.

I've never quite understood why people think the fathers of transsexualism had any understanding of feminist analysis.

Dr Em
'Sexist History at the Heart of the ‘Science’ on Transsexualism, Part II: Robert Stoller, True Trans'
May 3, 2020

(extract)
"This is some of the bedrock science which gender identity and gender dysphoria is based on. Susan Stryker, transgender activist, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, founder of the Transgender Studies Initiative at the University of Arizona and Visiting Professor of Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University (2019–20) described how Stoller’s work was part of the ‘legitimation of a newly-defined clinical entity, “gender identity disorder”, as an official pychopathology recognised by the American Psychiatric Association’ in the 1980s.

If Stoller’s first volume of work has not persuaded you, maybe we will have better luck with volume two, first published in 1968. In Sex and Gender volume II: The Transsexual Experiment, Stoller rearticulated his argument that brain sex tailored towards imprinting of specific stereotypes produced masculine behaviours such as violence towards women in men, or feminine behaviours such as an innate desire to clean in women. Stoller was scathing of the women’s liberation movement, he stated that ‘Women’s liberation activists and other metapsychological romantics can make of this what they like, but what they make is… related to science as daydreams are to reality’. The male proposers of gender identity were working directly against the women’s liberation movement, and recognised this fact. Stoller continued his blaming of women – specifically mothers – for supposed childhood transsexualism and posited male aggression towards females as the natural and defining feature of a masculine gender identity which should be encouraged as a therapeutic route. In his analysis of ‘our little feminine boy’ Stoller delineated how ‘initial confirmation that the oedipal conflict is missing is found in treatment. Only when these boys have been treated for several years and masculine traits start appearing does evidence of oedipal conflict develop’. This sounds like the treatment creating the disease. What looks like successful treatment? Male violence against women. Stoller described his successful outcome that ‘the boy starts to value their penis… they physically attack females – dolls and girls, with pleasure more than anger the dominant affect’. The ideology of gender identity asserts that if a male does not innately desire to commit violence against females, does not gain pleasure from aggression and assault of females then he is born wrong, abnormal. "
(continues)
uncommongroundmedia.com/robert-stoller-true-trans/

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3900484-Dr-Em-article-Sexist-History-at-the-Heart-of-the-Science-on-Transsexualism-Part-II-Robert-Stoller-True-Trans-an-ideology-which-is-antithetical-to-feminism

The male proposers of gender identity were working directly against the women’s liberation movement, and recognised this fact.

I've been telling libfems this for years, and they tell me I'm lying and don't know my history. Infuriating!

Good to have it all laid it clearly to direct people to in future.

Thanks for the link to part 2.

It's still both shocking yet unsurprising. Penis envy

Or was it the way some of the offspring of stressed out rats have coitus which ‘proved’ that prenatal hormones affect mating and thus a gender identity exists?

Is this a reference to rats engaging in homosexual sex? If so, that can be observed in lots and lots of species and if it proves anything it's that homosexuality is part of the normal spectrum of behaviour among living creatures. It's got nothing to do with trans issues, unless you're a raging homophobe.