How Has Society's Attitude Towards Transsexuals Changed Since 1950?

Amanda Greenall

Independent Studies Part One: Gender Sexuality and Society

How has society's attitude towards transsexuals changed since 1950?

A transsexual is defined as

"1) a person who feels that they should have been the opposite sex, and therefore behaves and dresses like a member of that sex

2) a person who has had medical operation to change their natal sex" (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2004). In the context of this assignment I investigated the views towards transsexuals described in the latter definition, as a person who has undergone a medical operation to change their natal sex. The essay is an analysis of the changes in attitude of society towards transsexuals since 1950, in an attempt to identify what may have contributed towards this change and how the modern society now view transsexuals. For the purpose of this essay I chose to concentrate on society's attitude towards transsexuals in the UK. Many examples in the media and key events have influenced a change in modern society's views towards transsexuals. Changes in legislative rights of transsexuals have also influenced this change which this essay will be looking at in the hope to find a correlation between such events and the change in society's views.

One of the first acknowledgements of transsexuality in the beginning of the last 50 years is by practitioner of sexology Harry Benjamin M.D.

"With the advancement of biologic, and especially genetic studies, the concept of "male" and "female" has become rather uncertain. There is no longer an absolute division (dichotomy)."

Taken from his 1966 book "The Transsexual Phenomenon", the book outlines several cases of transsexuality, including one of the first public cases of transsexuality which was the case of Christine Jorgensen's conversion from a man to a woman. Christine was famous for being one of the first transsexuals. She was originally born George Jorgensen. It was the 1st December 1952 when she became an overnight media sensation. The New York Daily News carried a front page story announcing Jorgensen was the recipient of the first successful gender reassignment surgery. Although gender reassignment surgery has been carried out since 1930, therefore she was not the first person to undergo this operation, this was once of the first stories to be brought to the attention of the public and she became a willing spokesperson for the transsexual and transgendered community. (Information provided from http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com). Since Christine's story many more stories were brought to the attention of the public, providing the transsexual individuals with a sense of community.

"Suddenly they understood and found themselves and saw hope for a release from an unhappy existence" wrote Harry Benjamin in the same book "The Transsexual Phenomenon". Prior to this publication, the lives of such individuals are hard to imagine, but Harry Benjamin summarises the probable scenarios,

"Some of them probably languished in mental institutions, some in prisons, and the majority as miserable, unhappy members of the community, unless they committed suicide".

This latter quote, with particular reference to the fact that some of these individuals faced prison sentences, led me onto research of the law. As the law is believed to be the most truthful establishment, built on the foundations of facts and everything that is concrete, precise, accurate, the law is accepted to be a guide of what our morals should mirror. Because the law is so highly regarded, it is therefore vital that the law must acknowledge and accept the transsexual community as human beings. To address the question of how society's attitude towards transsexuals has changed since 1950 it is therefore essential that I examine the changes in law, because a reflection in the attitude of the law is likely to show the same reflection of attitude of the society towards transsexuals.

Stephen Whittle identifies some of the many problems faced in relation to the law in his book "Respect and Equality, transsexual and transgender rights", describing,

"by exploring both the medico-legal construction of the transsexual as a person, I clarify the inadequacy of current legal thinking and law in practice to recognise the "humanness" of transsexual people......

This enables the transsexual person to be separated out from the rest of humanity and afforded special discriminatory treatment by the law, through their being "non-human".

This statement highlights the fact that transsexuals are not recognised as equals by the law. On the basis that they were born a certain gender, even though that gender may have now been corrected to reflect their true, inner gender and personality, the law does not see give them equal treatment. The law's lack of recognition of the transsexuals as human beings has caused discrimination and thus the attitude of the society has reflected this discrimination offered by the law. If even the law cannot recognise them as equal human beings, there is little hope of living their lives with dignity and respect and less chance of changing society's attitude towards them.

An example of the discrimination in the law is the case of transsexual Elizabeth Bellinger. Mrs Bellinger had a sex change operation in 1981 and so was originally married without question on the priest's presumption that she was a woman, which indeed she physically was as she had undergone the operation before the ceremony. She lobbied Parliament to demand legislation to recognise her now 23-year-old marriage Michael Bellinger. She also wanted her adoption of Michael Bellinger's daughter by his first wife, now deceased, to be legally acknowledged. She began her legal battle over 5 years ago to have her marriage made legal under the 1986 Family Law Act.

"Britain," she said, "is the only country in Europe which allows sex change operations but does not then legally recognise the person's new gender."

She also commented how saddened she was to be treated the way she has,

"I'm very sad to think that in this house, the mother of Parliaments, where we expect leadership for the family in this country, that this house is not recognising the plight of people who have normal lives, who are kind, caring people and treats them as something like - a word I don't like - a freak."

Several