Male transsexualism in England: sixteen cases with surgical intervention

The syndrome of transsexualism is now regarded as a dinstinct entity separate from transvestism and homosexuality (Benjamin, 1966; Green and Money, 1969). It refers to those patients who since childhood have been convinced of their wrong sex assignment and who wish to attain the sexual characteristics of the opposite sex and to live as a member of that sex. The present report is an initial one referring to the first group of transsexual patients studied at a postgraduate teaching hospital by a multidisciplinary team. Their study has three aims: first, to compare this group of patients with other series; second, to evolve a surgical technique of sex reassignment; and, finally, to assess the success of such surgery in allowing the patients to attain a satisfactory adjustment in their new gender role.