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Washington, DC, USA. More than 120 researchers and clinicians with expertise in neuroscience, biology, genetics, statistics, epidemiology, public health, nursing, pediatrics and social work will form the work groups who will review scientific advances and research based information to develop the fifth edition of the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). So who did we get to chair the workgroup on sexual and gender identity disorders (GID) ???
Here come Kenneth J. Zucker and Ray Blanchard, two Ph.D’s who, despite the ongoing research in neurobiology, believe that Harry Benjamin Syndrome (fna GID/transsexuality) is a psychological problem (not a biological condition), one that can be treated with drugs and $150 an hour therapy talks. [cf. Download of the APA News Release below.]
Kenneth J. Zucker, Ph.D., from Toronto's Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) believes in the unproven efficacy of reparative (e.g., "ex-gay") therapy to "cure" gender-variant children. Ray Blanchard, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto has published scientifically unsound research purporting that HBS women are autogynephilic (that is, paraphilic fetishists who are
sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women).
Unable to make HBS men and women see the benefits of having bodies that are incongruent with their brains, Zucker proposes that he can cure them of the “delusion” they have had since birth. Ray Blanchard, a man who is unable to understand why someone would not want a penis, attests that HBS women (male to female), like Narcissus, obsess over their reflected image, imagining themselves with a vagina and breasts rather than a penis like Ray has.
Clinicians are inclined to diagnose disorders that they feel more comfortable treating. If Zucker is uncomfortable with a male to female HBS woman not wanting a penis — a body part I assume that Mr. Zucker is quite fond of — then the HBS woman must be delusional. No sane person wants to lose his penis (denying that HBS women are who they are).
If Blanchard is uncomfortable with a male to female HBS not wanting to do all those things a gay man does with a penis, then the HBS woman must be a gay man with autogynephilia who can be brought back into the gay dating fold once they fall under Mr. Blanchard’s sway. I find it quite telling that Blanchard’s faux science fails to address female to male HBS men. Perhaps Blanchard ignores them because he sees them as just women. Perhaps he believes that wanting to have a penis instead of a vagina is good thing, a step up from being born a woman.
Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a woman.
— Talmud Blessing
So we have two men — Zucker and Blanchard — once again insisting that only men know best what women really need —
Men who want to make the rules that women must live by.
Men the APA has chosen to make decisions effecting the lives of HBS men and women and the fates of all those born with GID.
Men who come into the workgroup on sexual and gender disorders with unclean hands.
Men who have already decided what is best for HBS men and women.
What is going on?
In one faction, we have the reactionary forces of the old guard, the forty-five minute hour therapists, the Ph.D. sociologists and researchers who distrust hard science and fear that the neurobiologists and the science based physical psychologists will push them off center stage. All physical evidence — MRIs, synaptic networks, neural maps — must be opposed. The mind is everything and the mind is not physical. If the mind were physical, if the brain is physical, if being is physical, then it would be better the shrinks were good physical mechanics than bad theoretical therapists. All they have written since Freud crumbles if the hard science is admitted to be true.
In another faction, we have those who religious beliefs drive their science, self-limiting their world view. They circulate “just so” stories among themselves, patting themselves on the back, joining each others’ conferences and working groups, writing lauding praises on each others’ journal articles. If the science does not meet the needs of religion, better to ignore the science, better yet, silence the research.
A third, perhaps more insidious faction are the men — heterosexual, gay, and bi – who are so physically and personally uncomfortable talking with people who don’t want their penises that they would prefer to think that HBS women do not exist. The first therapist I ever saw for HBS — ‘twas at Kaiser Permanente — was doing fine until five or ten minutes into the session I mentioned I was pre-op HBS.
His legs crossed protectively as he withdrew deep into the cushions of his leather chair. His arms grew tight to his body. The scent of his ill-ease formed a tangible presence in the office air.
So much for that shrink. The fear of losing his penis was so acute, he could not hide his anxiety from his patient.
Straight men barely understand HBS women, gay men understand us hardly ever. Everything is surface, male sex is everything, an immediate desire that must be filled. Unable to understand an HBS woman, they project their male needs and anxieties, deciding without evidence or valid scientific research that HBS women must be crazy, needing a careful male lead in therapy that returns the penis to its true place as lord and master of the world.
If only they could make HBS men and women go away, all would be right in the world once again with everyone in their proper place.
The APA is unqualified to define Harry Benjamin Syndrome or decide on appropriate treatments. Their time has come and gone. HBS is a physical birth condition not a psychological disorder treatable with words and ink blots.
Harry Benjamin Syndrome is a medical condition that originates during fetal development inside the womb. The genitals of an HBS man or woman are misaligned with our brain’s sex identity that was set before birth long before development of the other sexual organs. Sex Realignment Surgery (SRS) brings the outward genitals into agreement with the actual sex of the HBS man or woman. The end result is that their body’s genitals finally match the configuration of their brain and they are HBS no more.
So why has the APA appointed Zucker and Blanchard to the work group?
I thought that would be obvious.
The Men want back in control.
APA Names DSM-V Work Group Members: Experts to Revise Manual for Diagnosis of Mental Disorders. News Release No. 08-27. American Psychiatric Association (APA). May 1, 2008. [ Download PDF ]
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