Masculinity, femininity, and transsexualism

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Gender Studies
• Sociology

Background:

• Transsexualism prevalence varies globally, with male-to-female (MF) transsexualism being less common than female-to-male (FM) in Poland compared to Western countries.
• Understanding sex-role identification in transsexual populations is crucial for clinical and social contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between sex-role identification and gender identity in a Polish transsexual population.
• To compare sex-role identification in male-to-female (MF) and female-to-male (FM) transsexuals with control groups.

Main Methods:

• A Sex Role Inventory was administered to 103 FM transsexuals, 29 MF transsexuals, 135 control males (CM), and 303 control females (CF).
• The inventory measures the degree to which individuals self-identify with masculine and feminine characteristics.

Main Results:

• MF transsexuals reported higher femininity scores than both CM and CF, and lower masculinity scores than CM but comparable to CF.
• FM transsexuals scored higher on masculinity than CF but similar to CM, and reported femininity scores between CM and CF.
• Secondary transsexuals' scores mirrored primary transsexuals' patterns, with MF-primary transsexuals showing higher femininity identification than MF-secondary transsexuals.

Conclusions:

• Transsexualism does not involve a simple inversion of sex-role patterns; transsexuals differ from controls of both sexes.
• MF transsexualism represents a more extreme identification with feminine traits than FM transsexualism.
• Observed sex-role identification differences in transsexuals appear universal across different regions.