Problems of Sex Determination and Alteration

The term seems to have been coined by Dr. Harry Benjamin of the United States. His works on the subject include, “Transsexualism and Transvestism As Psychosomatic and Somato-Psychic Syndromes,” 8 American Journal of Psychotherapy 219 (1954), “Clinical Aspects of Transsexualism in the Male and Female,” 18 Amer. J. of Psy. 458 (1964), and The Transsexual Phenomenon. N.Y.: The Julian Press, Inc., 1966.

Anonymous v. Weiner, 270 N.Y.S. 2d 319, 321 (1966), quoting from Dr. Benjamin.

Hamburger Sturup , “Transvestism: Hormonal, Psychiatric and Surgical Treatment,” 152 Journal of the American Medical Association (hereafter J.A.M.A.) 391 (1953).

Barr Hobbs , “Chromosomal Sex in Transvestites,” 1954 The Lancet 1109; One commentator indicates the male to female ratio is about 3·7 to 1 (603M to 162F cases). Pauly, “Male Psycho-sexual Inversion: Transsexualism,” 13 Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 172, 179 (1965).

Bowman Engle , “Sex Offences: The Medical and Legal Implications of Sex Variations,” 25 Law and Contemporary Problems 292, 306 (1960).

Benjamin , 8 Amer. J. of Psy. 219, 220 (1954).

Worden Marsh , “Psychological Factors in Men Seeking Sex Transformation,” 157 J.A.M.A. 1292, 1293 (1955).

Hamburger Sturup , op. cit., pp. 391–392.

Benjamin, loc. cit..

Of 100 cases reviewed by Pauly, forty-eight were successful in obtaining some alteration of sexual anatomy; forty-two were surgically castrated, thirty obtained penectomy and twenty an artificial vagina. Pauly, op. cit.; p. 176.

Bamburger Sturup , loc. cit.; Benjamin, op. cit., p. 229.

Ibid.; In discussing a selection of 100 reported cases involving transsexuals, Pauly reports that six performed autocastration, three amputated their penises and nine attempted self-mutilation. Pauly, op. cit., p. 176. See, for example, the discussion of a Swiss case in 1963 Excerpta Crimonologica s1066, at footnote 67.

Hamburger and Sturup, loc. cit..

Ibid..

Benjamin, 18 Amer. J. of Psy. 458, 468 (1964).

Sometimes, in young transsexuals, the sexual motive for the operation to include creation of a vagina may be quite strong. The transsexual may well be attracted to normal heterosexual men and perhaps even to promiscuity. Benjamin, The Transsexual Phenomenon, pp. 113–114.

Benjamin , 8 Amer. J. of Psy. 228.

Pauly, op. cit., p. 178.

Ibid., to the present, no full long range studies have been undertaken to ascertain post-operative patient adjustment. In one sampling of forty-eight patients who had undergone “conversion” surgery of varying degrees, twenty felt themselves definitely improved, six definitely not, eleven were equivocal and there was no follow-up data on the other eleven. Pauly, op. cit., p. 177; Worden and March, op. cit., p. 1298. Pauly refers to cases where resort to prostitution and serious depression have followed “conversion” surgery as indications that claims of “success” for the practice are sometimes over-stated. Ibid., p. 178.

Randell , “Transvestitism and Trans-Sexualism (A Study of Fifty Cases),” 1959 Brit. Med. J. 2, 1448, 1451.

Hamburger and Sturup, loc. cit..

Benjamin , 18 Amer. J. of Psy. 469.

Lukianowicz , “Survey of Various Aspects of Transvestism in the light of our Present Knowledge,” 128 Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 36, 57 (1959); Hamburger and Sturup, op. cit., p. 393.

Benjamin , loc. cit. See footnote 12 were Pauly discusses 100 reported cases.

Hamburger Sturup , loc. cit..

Randell , loc. cit.; Worden and Marsh, loc. cit.; Anonymous v. Weiner, supra..

Bishop , “Intersexual States and Allied Conditions,” 1966 Brit. Med. J. 1, 1255.

Moore , “Recent Developments Concerning the Criteria of Sex and Possible Legal Implication,” 31 Man. Bar News 104 (1959).

Stoller , loc. cit..

Lukianowicz , loc. cit..

Ibid.; Bowman and Engle, loc. cit..

Williams G. , “Consent and Public Policy,” (1962) Crim. L.R. 154, 159.

(1955), p. 42; discussed in Edwards, “Recent Developments Concerning the Criteria of Sex and Possible Legal Implications,” 31 Man. Bar News 115, 116–117 (1959).

Discussed in 105 S.J. 933 (1961).

cf. Rex v. Donovan (1934) 2 K.B. 498.

Institutes, 1, 4, 6.

Smith T. B. , “Law, Professional Ethics and the Human Body,” 1959 S.L.T. (News) 245, 247.

Forbes , Institutes of the Law of Scotland (Edinburgh 1722) Pt. 1, Bk. 1, Chap. 1, p. 18.

D. 1.5.8; Smith T. B. , loc. cit.

De Sancto Matrimonii Sacramentum Disputationum (Disputatio CVI, p. 380).

This conclusion would seem to be in conformity with prevailing medical opinion on this issue; namely that there are only two sexes (male-female) and only two genders (masculine-feminine), but that there are many degrees of each. See Stoller, loc. cit., at footnote 28, p. 107.

1957 S.L.T. 61 (Sh. Ct.).

at p. 62.

Smith T. B. , A Short Commentary on the law of Scotland. Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd., 1962, p. 250.

See generally, Stoller, op. cit., but especially p. 456; also, see the medical sources cited supra dealing with hermaphroditism, which contain case history examples.

Smith T. B. , 1959 S.L.T. (News) 247.

Gordon G. H. , The Crim. Law of Scotland. p. 775.

Hamburger Sturup , loc. cit..

Benjamin , The Transsexual Phenomenon, p. 120.

Hamburger Sturup , op. cit., p. 394.

Ibid. This was easier to ascertain in light of the legislation re castration operative in Denmark (i.e. Danish Sterilisation and Castration Act of 1935).

Ibid., p. 393.

Benjamin , 18 Am. J. Phys. 469.

Goldrach C. , “Deux Case De Trans-Sexualisme,” 44 Annales de Medecine Legale, p. 64 (1964). See also, L'Epee , “Medico-Legal Problems Posed by a Case of Testicular Feminisation in a Child,” 45 Amm. Med. Leg., p. 265 (1965).

Huelbe , “Ein Tranvestit: Der-Fall Heinrich B.”, Kriminalislik 3: 91 (1949), cited in Hamburger and Sturup, op. cit., p. 395.

1967 (July-August) Excerpta criminologica (s 1099).

N.J.W. 1965, 1084.

N.J.W. 1966, 407.

Acknowledgement to E. Schanze of Frankfurt for the necessary research and information.

Nevinny-Stickel Hammerstein , “Medizinisch—juristische Aspekte der menschlichen Transsexualitat,” N.J.W. 1967, 663.

Ibid.; E. Schanze, loc. cit..

Benjamin , The Transsexual Phenomenon, p. 140.

1963 Excerpta criminologica 430 (s 1066).

Ibid..

Benjamin , 8 Am. J. Psy. 219.

Benjamin , 18 Am. J. Psy. 459.

1963 Excerpta criminologica, loc. cit..

Edwards , loc. cit..

Ibid., p. 125.

Ibid., p. 126.

Ibid..

Sherwin , “The Legal Problem in Transvestism,” 8 Am. J. Psy. 243 (1954).

Bowman Engle , op. cit., p. 308.

Anonymous v. Weiner, 270 N.Y.S. 2d 319 (1966), reproduced in full in appendix I.

Benjamin , 18 Am. J. Psy. 466–467.

Bowman Engle , loc. cit..

Benjamin , 18 Am. J. Psy. pp. 466–7.

Bowman Engle , loc. cit..

Ibid..

Reported by Benjamin , The Transsexual Phenomenon, p. 116.

Sherwin , loc. cit..

Ibid., pp. 243–244.

Benjamin , 18 Am. J. Psy. p. 464.

Ibid..

Benjamin , The Transsexual Phenomenon, p 120.

Anonymous v. Weiner, 270 N.Y.S. 2d 319 (1966), (see App. I).

Id., at 321.

Id., at 322.

See Moore , 31 Man. Bar News 104 (1959) and Moore, 97 Canad. Med. Assoc. J. 292 (1967).

Anonymous v. Weiner, supra, at 322.

Accord , X Petitioner 1957 S.L.T. 61 (Sh. Ct.).

Reported in the Argentine law journal, La Ley (“Revista Juridica”), for Sept. 21, 1966, and commented upon extensively in English by S. A. Strauss in 84 S.A.L.J. 214 (1967), who also mentions the recent performance of several “sex operations” in S. Africa.

84 S.A.L.J. 214, 217.

Ibid., p. 218.

Ibid..

Ibid..

Smith T. B. , “Address,” Nov. 17, 1967.

Edwards , op. cit., p. 125.

Stoller , loc. cit..

Pauly , op. cit., p. 178; Benjamin , 8 Am. J. Psy. 219, 228; Worden & Marsh, loc. cit..

Moore , 97 Canad. Med. Assoc. J. 262 (1967); et al.

Benjamin , The Transsexual Phenomenon, pp. 144–145.