Transsexualism: Nature or counter-nature?

Abstract

Among the many expressions of human sexuality, transsexualism is perhaps the most striking manifestation of the inexorable quality of a solution to sexual conflict which appears to go against nature.

How are we to understand the transsexuals unrelenting demand for sexual reassignement? Taking two clinical vignettes as a starting point, the author presents his reflexion on the form of relationship that the infant, destined to become a transsexual, establishes in his or her mind at the very beginning of psychic life. The significance attached to “masculine” and “feminine”, as transmitted by the parents, is then studied for its effect upon the identificatory processes. The central thesis of this paper is that the so-called transsexual choice appears to have been the only solution that the child of the past was able to find, in order not only to acquire a sense of sexual identity but also to attain the conviction of his or her identity as a separate individual.