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The Transsexual Empire: the Making of the She-Male / Janice G

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The Transsexual Empire: the Making of the She-Male / Janice G ATHENE Series General Editors Gloria Bowles Renate Klein Janice Raymond Consulting Editor Dale Spender The Athene Series assumes that all those who are concerned with formulating explanations of the way the world works need to know and appreciate the significance of basic feminist principles. The growth of feminist research internationally has called into question almost all aspects of social organization in our culture. The Athene Series focuses on the construction of knowledge and the exclusion of women from the process—both as theorists and subjects of study—and offers innovative studies that challenge established theories and research. ATHENE, the Olympian goddess of wisdom, was honored by the ancient Greeks as the patron of arts and sciences and guardian of cities. She represented both peace and the intellectual aspect of war. Her mother, Metis, was a Titan and presided over all knowledge. While pregnant with Athene, Metis was swallowed whole by Zeus. Some say this was his attempt to embody her supreme wisdom. The original Athene is thus twice bom: once of her strong mother, Metis, and once more out of the head of Zeus. According to feminist myth, there is a “third birth” of Athene when she stops being an agent and mouthpiece of Zeus and male dominance, and returns to her original source: the wisdom of womankind. THE TRANSSEXUAL The Making of the She-Male EMPIRE Reissued with a New Introduction on Transgender JANICE G. RAYMOND Teachers College Press Teachers College, Columbia University New York and London Reprinted in 1994 by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027 Originally published in 1979 by Beacon Press Copyright © 1994 by Janice G. Raymond All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans­ mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho­ tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Little, Brown and Company for permis­ sion to reprint material from the following: Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or a Woman by John Money and Patricia Tucker. Copyright © 1975 by John Money and Patricia Tucker. By permission of Little, Brown and Com­ pany. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Raymond, Janice G. The transsexual empire: the making of the she-male / Janice G. Raymond. p. cm. ---(Athene series - 39) Reissue, with a new introduction, of the 1979 ed., published by Beacon Press, Boston. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8077-6272-5 1. Sex change--M oral and ethical aspects. 2. Transsexuals. 3. Lesbi­ ans. 4. Sex role. I. Title. II. Series. RC560.C4R38 1994 305.3---dc20 93-46771 ISBN 0-8077-6272-5 Printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America 98 97 96 95 94 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Introduction to the 1994 Edition xiii Introduction: Some Comments on Method (for the Methodical) 1 I. “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Transsexualism” 19 II. Are Transsexuals Bom or Made—or Both? 43 II. “Mother’s Feminized Phallus” or Father’s Castrated Femme? 69 IV. Sappho by Surgery: The Transsexually Constructed Lesbian-Feminist 99 V. Therapy as a Way of Life: Medical Values versus Social Change 120 VI. Toward the Development of an Ethic of Integrity 154 Appendix: Suggestions for Change 178 Notes 187 Index 213 For Mary Daly Who has moved me to the Moors of the Mind. Who has taught me to feel with all my intellect and think with all my heart. With Gratitude, Awe, and Love ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book has been long in process. It began as a confer­ ence paper delivered at the New England Regional Ameri­ can Academy of Religion Meeting in 1972. Much of it had another life as my doctoral dissertation, which was fin­ ished at Boston College in 1977. Finally, it metamor­ phosed into a book. There are many people to thank for all of this. My parents’ love, trust, and support have been an im­ portant source of encouragement. Many of my students offered creative insights and critical commentary as the work was in progress. I would like to thank Jan Stiefel who, in proofreading with me, read the entire manuscript aloud. Amy Hines and Judy Gold were valuable search assistants who found material for me often at short notice. Chris Decker applied her creative and prestidigitatory tal­ ents to the index of this book, as well as to the proof­ reading of the galleys. Anne Dellenbaugh snooped out many difficult-to-find sources, read over many of these herself, offered original comments, and taught me how to sail. vii viii Acknowledgments Some people read selected parts of my work, either in chapter or in article form, and made helpful suggestions. Among these are Jackie Pritzen, Fern Johnson, and Lisa Buck. Eileen van Tassell was particularly helpful in reading over Chapter II. Julia Stanley assisted in clarifying several of my linguistic applications. Andrea Dworkin commented on Chapter IV. Mary Howell and Max Stackhouse served on my disser­ tation committee and read this manuscript in another one of its lives. Mary Howell helped me to explain the medical aspects of the issue and to integrate certain ethical aspects with issues current in the women’s health movement. Max Stackhouse assisted me in organizing the methodological aspects of my work. Michael Gross has been both a suppor­ tive colleague and critic. In reading the manuscript early on, he gave me invaluable suggestions on the sex difference literature, Chapter II, and the history of medicine and science. For their friendship and support, I would like to thank Kate Lehmann, Linda Scaparotti, Karin Krut, Kath Wetzel, and Marcia Liebermann. For many years, Wilma Miley has been a very special friend and supporter. Michelle Cliff gave me many insights into the publishing world and encouraged, in many ways, the publication of this book. I have known Emily Culpepper since I first began work on this topic. She has provided me with many resources and insights, and she invented the key phrase that I use throughout this book (male-to-constructed-female). Conversations with Linda Barufaldi were always fun, and her friendship and creativ­ ity have been important in the process of this book. Nelle Morton’s work, example, and friendship have profoundly affected my life and work. Robin Morgan has encouraged my work in this area for many years. Her writing, insight, and counsel have been vital to me. Nancy Sunflower gave an intelligent and careful typing of the manuscript. Mary Ann Lash made editorial sugges­ tions which helped to clarify the content and structure of my book. Adrienne Rich has been a very special friend and critic. ix Acknowledgments She has read the manuscript through all of its stages and provided resources, creative criticism, and constant en­ couragement. Her work, and her recognition of my work, have meant a great deal to me in the process of this writ­ ing. I hope the dedication of this book adequately expresses the gratitude I owe to Mary Daly. Her friendship, wisdom, and creativity are enspiriting and, more than anyone, she has sparked my creativity. It is difficult for me to separate my words and ideas from her own. Pat Hynes has been with this book in the deepest way. She has read the manuscript and made detailed, discerning, and perceptive observations throughout. To her, I say that “Friendship is a divine affection. ” Be-ing with her, in all ways, is a life-giving experience. INTRODUCTION TO THE 1994 EDITION This year, 1994, is the fifteenth anniversary of the publica­ tion of The Transsexual Empire. Shortly after the book was published in 1979, Johns Hopkins, which was the first U. S. medical institution to perform transsexual surgery, phased out the procedure and dismantled its Gender Identity Com­ mittee. Although some of my friends credited The Transsex­ ual Empire as an important influence on the termination of the surgery, I think the closing of Johns Hopkins’s doors had much more to do with several other factors, some announced and some not publicized. The publicized reason was a study by Jon Meyer, psychia­ trist and director of the Johns Hopkins sexual consultation program, which found that there was no difference in long- term adjustment for individuals who undergo the surgery and those who do not. Meyer, after keeping follow-up records on his patients’ postoperative acceptance of their new gen­ der—using such indicators as employment status, marital and cohabitation success, psychological and legal problems— concluded that the surgery served “as a palliative measure [but] it does not cure what is essentially a psychiatric distur­ bance. "1 This was the public reason for discontinuing the sur- Introduction to the 1994 Edition surgery, and it was accompanied by points of view to the con­ trary from other transsexual experts and apologists who disputed the study’s methodology and small sample popula­ tion, and accused Meyer of drawing unwarranted conclu­ sions. 2 It is my own hypothesis that other not-so-public reasons were also influential in the demise of the Johns Hopkins pro­ gram. John Money, founder and chief publicist for the Hop­ kins program, member of the Gender Identity Committee, and author of numerous articles and books on transsexualism and intersexuality, had branched out into the realms of child pornography and incest. Money had lectured and written that incest need not necessarily affect a child adversely, and that the law should differentiate between traumatic and nontraum atic incest. “When the genuine pair-bonding of erotic love has existed between the two partners in incest, then the dis­ covery and disbanding of their partnership, not the partner­ ship itself, may be the source of trauma.
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