From: Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@dial.pipex.com)
Date: Tue Jul 07 1998 - 16:00:07 MDT
Kathryn Aegis wrote:
> This rocked my world, because longitudinal
> studies on gender reassignment occur about as
> often as blue mice:
Do you have references for those blue mice
figures? They seem awfully low.
> Today's issue of the AMA Journal _Pediatrics_
> contains a study that has the potential to
> radically alter the concept of immutable
> gender. (It also raises some disturbing ethical
> questions the choice of the child involved) It
> involves the second case of sex reassignment of
> a child who suffered an accident during a
> circumcision, who was then reassigned as a
> female.
Couldn't the "tomboyish" characteristic in both
individuals be down to chromosomes? And the
reaction of the first patient - rejecting dolls
(is this the current method of defining gender -
dolls or guns?), trying to urinate standing up,
etc. - was, it seems, after he learned of the
operation. In my opinion this is a psychological
(and social) reaction rather than a biological one
(the social attitude towards transgender may have
changed between the two cases). If this were so it
would seem at least some of our assumptions about
gender are wrong. Of course, most of this is
speculation based on limited facts.
I would be interested to see what the researchers
involved made of the characteristics both cases
displayed (and of the connection between the
second cases gender indentity and sexuality).
BM
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