Gender reassignment measure

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Gender reassignment measures are medical measures that serve to bring primary or secondary sexual characteristics into line with a norm.

These usually consist of therapy with:

or off

Intersex

In the case of intersex people (people with not clearly female or male physical gender characteristics), medical measures can be taken to adapt the body to the felt or suspected gender. This can range from compensating for abnormal hormone levels to "minor" interventions such as reducing the size of the clitoris , to the complete remodeling of the genital area using plastic surgery .

In the past in particular, the decision to take such a measure was often made by parents in childhood without waiting for the child's personal development. Since the removal of rudimentary male genitals (i.e. the operation on the woman) is the surgically simpler measure, it was chosen more often without being more appropriate to the child's situation in individual cases. Like any operation , a gender reassignment operation is an intrusion into the physical integrity that is only lawful with the consent of the patient. Even if parental custody in principle empowers parents to consent to such an intervention on behalf of their underage children, there is now a controversial debate as to whether it is justifiable in the special case of gender reassignment for parents to make this decision for their children.

Transsexuality

In the case of transsexuals or transgender people (people who do not or not completely identify themselves with their primary and secondary gender characteristics), these measures are carried out in order to adapt the body to the perceived gender. These measures take place at the express request of the persons concerned and generally after detailed assessments. It is often still controversial here whether these measures should benefit everyone who needs them or only people who fully meet the definition of transsexuality . The tendency, both among transgender people and therapists, is increasingly towards the former.

Law

Legal measures are also less often included in gender reassignment measures, i.e. the adaptation of first names and / or civil status to a different gender:

frequency

The data in the table below is from an article 1 by Lynn Conway 2 and is a rough estimate of the prevalence 3 in the United States . According to Conway, the uncertainty of the estimates is based on the fact that the terms are sometimes interpreted differently.

Estimates of the prevalence 3 of cross-dressing and TG / TS predispositions in the USA (2001)
TG: transgender , TS: transsexuality , GA-OP: sex reassignment surgery
criteria Conservative 5 estimate
of current prevalence 		%
from
to 		“ Intrinsic ” prevalence, 6
minimum probable value
Intensive cross-dressing 4 part-time 1:50 2.0-5.0 1:20
People with strong TG feelings 1: 200 0.5-2.0 1:50
People with intense TS feelings 1: 500 0.2-0.7 1: 150
TG transitions 7 (without GA-OP) 1: 1000 0.1-0.5 1: 200
TS transitions (with GA-OP) 1: 2500 0.04-0.2 1: 500
  1. Lynn Conway: How Frequently Does Transsexualism Occur? (12/17/2002). Translation: How common is transsexualism?
  2. Brief biography of Lynn Conway - English (2006)
  3. Prevalence: proportion of those affected in the population
  4. "Cross-dressing" refers to wearing typical clothing of the opposite sex
  5. Conservative estimate: prevalence reported / reported so far by psychiatrists
  6. "Intrinsic": estimated prevalence including " dark figure "
  7. "Transition": change of social gender or gender role (English " transgender transition ")

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