ransvestia

behavior more along the lines of the feminist movement. This, however, is not the task nor the talent of the medical profession and, although I am a feminist myself and agree strongly that these old stereotypes must go, I don't think her attack on the medical profession and on the TSs themselves is warranted. However, much the world ought to be changed in these areas, the fact is that very large segments of the population still subscribe to the old values witness the anti-ERA movement. Thus any “male to con- verted female" who is going to have to go out into that world and live undetected in it had better become rather adept at the protec- tive coloration of that stereotype. Being a "No. 2" he/she will have to try harder than the GGs. As TVs we all know that perfect- ly well. The medical profession cannot make revolutionary fem- inists out of the TSS it can't be done to begin with, and the medical profession is not equipped even to try in the second place - so they can only provide such counseling and training as may help the new "woman" to survive safely.

Unfortunately, the author is as mixed up as everyone else in the meanings of the terms "sex role", "gender," "gender iden- tity," "sexual identity," "Core gender identity," etc. When I say "as everyone else," I know that I am taking on the establish- ment. She quotes liberally from the authorities such as Money, Green, Stoller, Benjamin and many others. But since the authori- ties themselves use these terms in illogical ways, quotations of such illogical use only compound the problem. For example, there is "sex" meaning anatomy and biological function. Since the word "role" (coming from the drama) refers to the acting out of a part, "sex role" should refer to the acts and behaviors characteristic of carrying out sexual relations. Now, I am not meaning a "wham, bam, thank you man" activity - naturally it is more subtle than that but the male sex role is essentially the same in a human, a wolf, or a tiger. However, when one is referring to social-cultural ideas of how persons with penises should comport themselves in non-sexual circumstances, that is gender, and the sum total of these expected behaviors is what should be referred to as "gender role." But when authors use "sex role" when they really mean a complex of nonsexual behaviors (i.e., gender), it can't result in

-

-

-36-