Transsexualism, sex and gender

Abstract

ceccarelle P. Transsexualim, Sex and Gender, Int Psychoanal 1997;6:141. Stockholm, ISSN 0803-706X.

How does the body into which a baby is born become a sexual body? Do the anatomical characteristics of masculine or feminine constitute guarantee for a subject to say that he/she is a man or a woman?

The passage from identifications to identity is a most complex one. To try to clarify this process the author starts by making some reflections on the notion of identity itself from the psychoanalytical point of view. This leads to a central question which is to know if one is born a boy or a girl, or if one becomes one. Working with the fundamental concept of primary identification and the distinction of sex and gender, the author shows, through a clinical vignette, that anatomy is no assurance for a construction of a feeling of gender identity according to the anatomical sex.