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The Transsexual Phenomenon
The early classic scientific report on transsexualism and sex conversion in the human male and female.
356 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 22, 2020
I'll keep this short. This book is a historical relic that is not very scientifically relevant.
Though Benjamin's taxonomy had 3 of its 6 categories labelled as transvestites, these were all considered not true transsexuals and only those who were predominately androphilic qualified for the "true transsexual" categories. This resulted in gatekeeping of medical procedures that led many would-be trans women to misrepresent their stories both to themselves and others. His category of non-surgical transsexuals, group IV, were basically the same group of people who Buhrich and McConaghy later labelled "Marginal Transvestites". Groups V and VI in Benjamin's taxonomy are two different kinds of “true transsexuals” that are determined based on sexual orientation.
It seems that this book was written primarily as a PR boost to help transsexuals. Though surely it helped many at the time, the scientific rigor in this book is lacking. By having a taxonomy that divided up people based on their degree of cross-gender identity(denoted as “Gender Feeling”) and degree of gynephilia/androphilia(Kinsey scale 0-6), it created a need for would-be transsexuals to misrepresent their sexual histories to clinicians and themselves, and this led to misconceptions about proper medical treatment of transsexuals for decades.
I find it hard to believe that Benjamin himself was unaware that there are two mostly distinct groups of MtF transsexuals. I think he knew, and chose to present his narrative based on what would play best to the public of the time. For instance, in his taxonomy he even states that High Intensity True Transsexuals “Intensely desires relations with normal male as 'female,' if young. Later, libido low. May have been married and have children, by using fantasies in intercourse.” This lines up perfectly with the Blanchardian two-type typology which has two groups: early-onset androphilic, and late-onset autogynephilic. In the short term, Benjamin's taxonomy and book probably did help many gender dysphoric males if they fit into the rigid criteria of the gender clinics. In the long term, his categorization scheme caused lasting damage and misunderstandings that last to the present day. Though Blanchard's formulation uses language that many find invalidating, at least it fits the evidence the best of all current models and also helped reduce medical gatekeeping. Under the Blanchardian framework, if you're sufficiently suffering from gender dysphoria you are eligible to receive medical interventions to help regardless the cause of your dysphoria. It's about reducing suffering, not judging based on sexual orientation or how well you can play the role of “woman”.
I'm not androphilic so I don't know what it's like to be that kind of trans, but as an autogynephile I can say that there are multiple other books that are superior to Benjamin's book if you're trying to learn about 'late-onset' (autogynephilic) transsexualism, the most common kind of MtF transsexualism. For instance, Hirschfeld did far better and his book Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dresscame out in 1910. Even the Eonism chapter in Havelock Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Vol 7: Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies [1928] is better because at least there's first-person narratives in it. You can find it for free on archive.org. There's also later books which are more informative like Richard F Docter's Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a Theory of Cross-Gender Behavior [1988] and Anne Lawrence's Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism [2013]. If you are or have been sexually attracted to women and wish you were female instead of male, read Anne Lawrence's book if you want to understand the best empirical model of late-onset transsexualism. If you're not concerned with material truth or having a mental model that best predicts reality, don't read any of these books actually. In fact, forget I even mentioned those resources.
Benjamin's book has serious flaws and I perceive those flaws as intentionally built-in to the book so it makes me quite incensed to think about it. He was not a good scientist. Read this book for its historical value only.
Also, sorry I didn't keep this short.
Though Benjamin's taxonomy had 3 of its 6 categories labelled as transvestites, these were all considered not true transsexuals and only those who were predominately androphilic qualified for the "true transsexual" categories. This resulted in gatekeeping of medical procedures that led many would-be trans women to misrepresent their stories both to themselves and others. His category of non-surgical transsexuals, group IV, were basically the same group of people who Buhrich and McConaghy later labelled "Marginal Transvestites". Groups V and VI in Benjamin's taxonomy are two different kinds of “true transsexuals” that are determined based on sexual orientation.
It seems that this book was written primarily as a PR boost to help transsexuals. Though surely it helped many at the time, the scientific rigor in this book is lacking. By having a taxonomy that divided up people based on their degree of cross-gender identity(denoted as “Gender Feeling”) and degree of gynephilia/androphilia(Kinsey scale 0-6), it created a need for would-be transsexuals to misrepresent their sexual histories to clinicians and themselves, and this led to misconceptions about proper medical treatment of transsexuals for decades.
I find it hard to believe that Benjamin himself was unaware that there are two mostly distinct groups of MtF transsexuals. I think he knew, and chose to present his narrative based on what would play best to the public of the time. For instance, in his taxonomy he even states that High Intensity True Transsexuals “Intensely desires relations with normal male as 'female,' if young. Later, libido low. May have been married and have children, by using fantasies in intercourse.” This lines up perfectly with the Blanchardian two-type typology which has two groups: early-onset androphilic, and late-onset autogynephilic. In the short term, Benjamin's taxonomy and book probably did help many gender dysphoric males if they fit into the rigid criteria of the gender clinics. In the long term, his categorization scheme caused lasting damage and misunderstandings that last to the present day. Though Blanchard's formulation uses language that many find invalidating, at least it fits the evidence the best of all current models and also helped reduce medical gatekeeping. Under the Blanchardian framework, if you're sufficiently suffering from gender dysphoria you are eligible to receive medical interventions to help regardless the cause of your dysphoria. It's about reducing suffering, not judging based on sexual orientation or how well you can play the role of “woman”.
I'm not androphilic so I don't know what it's like to be that kind of trans, but as an autogynephile I can say that there are multiple other books that are superior to Benjamin's book if you're trying to learn about 'late-onset' (autogynephilic) transsexualism, the most common kind of MtF transsexualism. For instance, Hirschfeld did far better and his book Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dresscame out in 1910. Even the Eonism chapter in Havelock Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Vol 7: Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies [1928] is better because at least there's first-person narratives in it. You can find it for free on archive.org. There's also later books which are more informative like Richard F Docter's Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a Theory of Cross-Gender Behavior [1988] and Anne Lawrence's Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism [2013]. If you are or have been sexually attracted to women and wish you were female instead of male, read Anne Lawrence's book if you want to understand the best empirical model of late-onset transsexualism. If you're not concerned with material truth or having a mental model that best predicts reality, don't read any of these books actually. In fact, forget I even mentioned those resources.
Benjamin's book has serious flaws and I perceive those flaws as intentionally built-in to the book so it makes me quite incensed to think about it. He was not a good scientist. Read this book for its historical value only.
Also, sorry I didn't keep this short.
December 11, 2016
Outside of historical curiosity there isn't much to be gained from this other than knowing that "attempts to help marginalized populations by appealing to the prejudices of the majority" often end up being less than fully beneficial [woo surgery requirements in many states, the requirement of blanket heterosexuality and the ability of surgeons to rejects candidates they feel wouldn't "pass"]. I understand why this book was written the way it was, this doesn't make it any less aggrevating
September 2, 2025
One of the few sympathetic books on transsexualism.
That's not to say it's light or pleasant reading. But where most contemporary researchers saw a 'sickness of the mind' before anything else, Benjamin at least seems to understand that these are, first of all, people.
(p. 48)
The book is obviously biased - but I believe this to be not only good but necessary. The book's bias is towards the client's happiness, which is probably what makes it so noticeable. Benjamin sometimes breaks through the page and tells the reader to re-read a section, if he found it particularly important or outrageous. Stoller, Green, Zuger and Money exhibited plenty of bias, but since they came to represent the present status quo, this tends to go under-the-radar.
For all its faults, of which there are plenty, The Transsexual Phenomenon carves its place in history by not only focusing on the pathology and the plight, but also on the person and their prosperity.
Despite its medicalist nature it's a deeply touching book, with horrific stories outshined by the possibility of trans joy.
That's not to say it's light or pleasant reading. But where most contemporary researchers saw a 'sickness of the mind' before anything else, Benjamin at least seems to understand that these are, first of all, people.
I did not hear from Juan for several months, but at Christmas time 1963, the following note was received:
Dear Dr. Benjamin
Finally I have to give up my struggle. Now i just exist waiting in misery for the moment to take leave of this earth in which I have been so miserable.
[...]
Good-by forever, J.
Attempts to get in touch with him failed. I would like to believe his note to be not more than a hysterical outcry, but the probability is he did find the only solution that he could see for his problem.
Sympathy, understanding, and especially any degree of empathy is found for transsexuals only among their own.
(p. 48)
The book is obviously biased - but I believe this to be not only good but necessary. The book's bias is towards the client's happiness, which is probably what makes it so noticeable. Benjamin sometimes breaks through the page and tells the reader to re-read a section, if he found it particularly important or outrageous. Stoller, Green, Zuger and Money exhibited plenty of bias, but since they came to represent the present status quo, this tends to go under-the-radar.
For all its faults, of which there are plenty, The Transsexual Phenomenon carves its place in history by not only focusing on the pathology and the plight, but also on the person and their prosperity.
Despite its medicalist nature it's a deeply touching book, with horrific stories outshined by the possibility of trans joy.
March 2, 2023
Incredibly interesting look at the past. I do have problems with it (misgendering patients, though I can understand why he did so in the book, I’ve heard he did nothing of the sort in real life) and I guess it’s not scientifically accurate anymore, but it is generally insightful. If I hadn’t had a positive view and background info on Harry Benjamin when I started reading, this would probably be rated lower.
September 1, 2024
This work quite surprised me with its insight, compassion, and academic rigour. There are surely few (if any) people as well positioned to comment on the procedural and medical realities of transgender health care in the 1960s than was Harry Benjamin. He draws not just on his own experiences in American medicine, but an in this case crucial background in German medicine (whose work with transgender patients long predated any American endeavours in this regard).
Benjamin is spoken well of in various transgender memoirs of the 1960s and 1970s and the why of it is evident here. This is a monumentally important work for both its medical insight and its interest in conveying patient experiences honestly (and to a large extent, in their own words).
Benjamin is spoken well of in various transgender memoirs of the 1960s and 1970s and the why of it is evident here. This is a monumentally important work for both its medical insight and its interest in conveying patient experiences honestly (and to a large extent, in their own words).
May 19, 2016
An important piece of history, though the ideas it contains are outdated at best and incredibly offensive and harmful at worse.
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January 16, 2016Very old.
Currently reading
May 15, 2019I need to read it because of my studies
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews