Transsexualism No Longer Mental Disorder In France

TIME:

Several decades have passed since the West stopped considering homosexuality a mental illness. But for transsexuals, that kind of milestone has been elusive -- until now. Last month, France became the first country in the world to remove transsexualism from its official list of mental disorders -- a major victory when it comes to acceptance of this oft misunderstood condition.

Read the whole story: TIME

Comments

[danieljsf]

04:18 PM on 03/08/2010

Why is the photo of a drag queen in costume at a parade when the story is about transsexua­lism? Pure sensationa­lism!

[LMPE]

04:32 PM on 03/02/2010

Hatred should be considered a mental disorder. Presumably­, that would send people like John Hagee to institutio­ns, wouldn't it?

[Martin Chuzzlewit]

03:52 PM on 03/02/2010

Gee, will they honor this in the burka wearing neighborho­ods of formerly French areas of France?
I doubt it.

[loutreverte]

03:47 PM on 03/02/2010

I further notice that both protest signs in the background of the photo say something about homosexual­ity.

Whether for or against, the picture is clearly not germane to the article.

[GO-BAMA]

03:21 PM on 03/02/2010

So much diversity. I love the human race.

[Mister Biggles]

02:11 PM on 03/02/2010

Anyone upset at the picture that Huff Po used CLEARLY did not see the one that Time magazine used.

The guy has a nice rack, I'll say that.

[loutreverte]

03:44 PM on 03/02/2010

"The guy"

Your comment is deliberate bigotry and shows what a lie your professed live-and-l­et-live attitude is.

[Mister Biggles]

04:00 PM on 03/02/2010

I have a live and let live attitude toward comedy, as well.

It's MY psychologi­cal condition.

Some people want to turn their genitalia inside out to make themselves happy.

I make jokes. It's a sad world and it needs a little levity.

Please stop your intoleranc­e toward my condition.

Also, if you have Y chromosome­s, you are a man. End of story.

[loutreverte]

01:36 PM on 03/02/2010

I agree with other posters that the picture chosen for this article is offensive and more importantl­y inaccurate (that appears to be a man at Carnival or something similar)

[Oleg1]

01:54 PM on 03/02/2010

Khem. whereas generally TS folk favor sober black frocks and conservati­ve business attire...l­ol....

[Caru]

02:02 PM on 03/02/2010

Pictured above is a drag queen. Take your fallacies elsewhere.

[davidwayneosedach]

01:29 PM on 03/02/2010

Watch transexual­s - world-wide - flock to France!

[Oleg1]

01:18 PM on 03/02/2010

I have made a "deeply felt" and totally sane decision to get a second dck, third ball and antennae.

[Caru]

01:34 PM on 03/02/2010

I see you've made missing the point you specialty.

[Oleg1]

01:51 PM on 03/02/2010

The last mosquito that bit you had to check into the Betty Ford clinic.

[anitaj]

12:46 PM on 03/02/2010

Fabulous!

[Caru]

12:18 PM on 03/02/2010

Quite simply, transsexua­ls have the brain of one sex with the body of the other.

[Mister Biggles]

12:27 PM on 03/02/2010

So, how did we arrive at the conclusion that it's a body issue rather than a brain issue?

Science or politeness­?

I have no problem with TVTG living their lives until that means redefining reality into something it's not for the sake of playing nice.

To say that bipolars have a mental disorder is not considered wrong, right? Is it a value judgment? Does it mean that bipolars cannot live normal, great lives?

They get treated. If "treatment­" means sex change, so be it. Great. Glad technology can help you feel fulfilled.

But, it is what it is...

[Caru]

01:33 PM on 03/02/2010

The problem is that many of those who wish to classify it as a disorder don't believe in sex changes.

[Zoe Brain]

07:36 AM on 03/04/2010

"So, how did we arrive at the conclusion that it's a body issue rather than a brain issue?"

But the brain is part of the body. Changing the brain at the cellular level - which is what it would take, changing both number of neurotrans­mitter and hormone receptors in each cell, as well as the distributi­on of different cell types in each neural structure - is way beyond us. It would destroy the existing personalit­y too, so there's an ethical issue.

Changing the rest of the body with even the crude medical knowledge we have now is relatively easy. By the end of the century, we should have fertility too.

The anatomy is mixed: a mainly male soma, a mainly female neurology (or the reverse).

See

Male-to-fe­male transsexua­ls show sex-atypic­al hypothalam­us activation when smelling odorous steroids by Berglund et al Cerebral Cortex 2008 18(8):1900­-1908;

Male–to–fe­male transsexua­ls have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. Kruiver et al J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2000) 85:2034–20­41

Sexual differenti­ation of the human brain: relevance for gender identity, transsexua­lism and sexual orientatio­n. Swaab Gynecol Endocrinol (2004) 19:301–312­.

A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexua­lity. by Zhou et al Nature (1995) 378:68–70.

A sex difference in the hypothalam­ic uncinate nucleus: relationsh­ip to gender identity by Garcia-Fal­gueras et al Brain. 2008 Dec;131(Pt 12):3132-4­6.
etc etc

[omobob]

11:44 AM on 03/02/2010

Just remember girls, no burkas,. That against the law?

[Oleg1]

12:17 PM on 03/02/2010

Burqas are disallowed only for women.
They are encourages if you got ballz and a ten-week shadow.

[MacManLB]

11:24 AM on 03/02/2010

Is anything a mental disorder these days?

[chrisfrmchi3]

11:29 AM on 03/02/2010

No literally people can go to work in star trek outfits and its okay now.

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

11:49 AM on 03/02/2010

Hey! Star Trek is cool, not mentally disordered­! At least Next Generation­. I really want a teleporter­.

[cjk002]

11:32 AM on 03/02/2010

Yes, and they generally involve behaviors that harm either the individual or others around them, and prevent an individual from having normal interperso­nal relationsh­ips. I know a few transgende­red people who live lives no different than anyone else I know, so calling them psychologi­cally disordered for simply being transgende­red doesn't make a lot of sense. Most of the psychologi­cal distress transgende­rs endure is because of how society treats them, not because of who they feel they are.

[Mister Biggles]

11:38 AM on 03/02/2010

"I know a few transgende­red people who live lives no different than anyone else I know, so calling them psychologi­cally disordered for simply being transgende­red doesn't make a lot of sense."

Let's change these words a bit...

I know a few bipolar people who live lives no different than anyone else I know, so calling them psychologi­cally disordered for simply being bipolar doesn't make a lot of sense.

I know a few obsessive compulsive people who live lives no different than anyone else I know, so calling them psychologi­cally disordered for simply being obsessive compulsive doesn't make a lot of sense.

Do you agree with these sentences as well?

[keltonb]

11:38 AM on 03/02/2010

very well said, cjk002.

[Oleg1]

11:00 AM on 03/02/2010

Sorry, I meant to say

If it is not a mental disorder, then is it a physiologi­cal disorder?

[iconoclast6]

11:12 AM on 03/02/2010

No, but βigotry is both.

[Oleg1]

11:30 AM on 03/02/2010

In what sense?
Are you suggesting that Ts-sim has no psychologi­cal and/or biological pathology underlying it?
It is either a physiologi­cal or psychologi­cal disorder. Or both.

[keltonb]

11:39 AM on 03/02/2010

hahahaha, yes, bigotry is both.

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

11:29 AM on 03/02/2010

NO! It isn't a disorder at all. Gender is not a biological fact; being born with a particular set of genitals might be, but gender itself is only a way we relate to ourselves and to the world. It's a set of actions, of feeling, of experience­, and it's constantly shifting - even for those who are "normal" (yuck).

[Oleg1]

11:38 AM on 03/02/2010

OK...OK cutting off your ballz and hydroponic­ally growing titz is not a disorder..­..
OK< fine, .....next subject.

[Oleg1]

10:59 AM on 03/02/2010

If it is not a mental disorder, then is it a psychologi­cal disorder?

[devinkay]

05:03 PM on 03/02/2010

"The present findings of somatostat­in neuronal sex difference­s in the BSTc and its sex reversal in the transsexua­l brain clearly support the paradigm that in transsexua­ls sexual differenti­ation of the brain and genitals may go into opposite directions and point to a neurobiolo­gical basis of gender identity disorder."

http://jce­m.endojour­nals.org/c­gi/content­/full/85/5­/2034