The Riddle of Gender - Deborah Rudacille [114]
Critics of the diagnosis have also pointed out the paradoxical fact that while homosexuality is no longer included in the DSM as a psycho-pathology, research shows that boys diagnosed with GID in childhood are far more likely as adults to identify as gay men than as transsexuals or cross-dressers. They argue that the GID diagnosis is thus being used by parents and clinicians to target children (mostly boys) suspected of being “pre-homosexual.” Although “there are simply no formal empirical studies demonstrating that therapeutic intervention in childhood alters the developmental path toward either transsexual-ism or homosexuality,” according to experts, gender-variant children and adolescents are subject to a range of interventions focused on changing their behavior and self-concept. In a paper titled “The Disparate Classification of Gender and Sexual Orientation in American Psychiatry,” Wilson notes that “American psychiatric perceptions of etiology, distress, and treatment goals for transgendered people are remarkably parallel to those for gay and lesbian people before the declas-sification of homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973.”
There is also a clear parallel between the treatment of intersexual children and transgendered children, many allege. Just as the bodies of intersexual children are surgically manipulated to conform to anatomical sexual dimorphism, transgendered children are subjected to psychiatric interventions focused on having them conform to socially sanctioned standards of gendered behavior and appearance.
Transgender youth face formidable challenges. Along with all the other conflicts and confusions associated with adolescence, they must come to terms with a gender identity that all of society tells them is “wrong” or “bad” or “sick.” “No single group has gone more unnoticed by society, or abused and maltreated by institutional powers, than youth with transgender needs and feelings,” say Gianna E. Israel and Donald E. Tarver II, M.D., in their book Transgender Care. “The overwhelming message from family, adult society, and youth peers says that gender nonconformity is a sick, mentally unstable condition to be feared, hated, and ridiculed.” All adolescents struggle to understand and accept their gender and sexuality, but for transgendered kids this is a perilous pursuit, fraught with risk and uncertainty. The pressure to conform to societal expectations of “normal” behavior and appearance comes from all sides—parents, school authorities, the media, and (most daunting for an adolescent) peers. Though there are no Robert’s Rules of gender posted at home, in schools, and in churches, the rules exist and are often harshly enforced by peers, parents, and school authorities.
People who have never known a lesbian, gay, or transgendered child often assume the child knows exactly who he or she is. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The process of self-realization and self-understanding is often a slow and painful one. People surrounding the child may take note of the child’s gender variance long before the child articulates a sense of being different. In a healthy, accepting environment, the child’s process of self-discovery is facilitated by the emotional support provided by a loving family—even when the family knows little about gender variance per se. Family members simply love the child and respect his or her individuality, without requiring that he or she conform to certain codes of dress and behavior. “If there is any cure for