Customer Reviews

Transgender Care: Recommended Guidelines, Practical Information, and Personal Accounts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great overview of current care standards and practices. Also includes some personal narratives. Directed to professionals in the health and therapeutic fields, but clear and readable by non-professionals, including patients, family and friends. Probably more useful if reader already has some familiarity with the field.

Transgender Care: Recommended Guidelines, Practical Information, and Personal Accounts

Transgender Care was published in 1997. Although it is 10 years old, I found it an invaluable resource on topics relating to Gender Identity Disorder (GID), and topics ranging from cross-dressing to Genital Reassignment Surgery. Subjects range from causes through support services to healthcare. Other topics include descriptions of hormone treatments and surgical options.

This book does not claim to provide in-depth information on any particular aspect of being transgender. Rather, it is an excellent overview of what GID is and how it affects individuals and how it can be dealt with.

To date, this is one of the few references I've found that provides factual information and resources relating to GID.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is transgendered or for the families of the transgendered.

Israel and Tarver write that they respect the self-determination of transgendered people, yet they propose guidelines that leave decisions about transgendered people's bodies, ultimately, in the hands of mental health professionals. The authors do not address this basic self-contradiction. To their credit, the authors also include essays by other writers, some of whom contest this autonomy-denying aspect of their proposed guidelines.

The authors propose three elements of human sexuality: sex (male, female, or intersexed), gender identity (male, female, androgynous), and sexual orientation (attracted to male, attracted to females, attracted to transexuals, attracted to gay men, attracted to lesbian women, etc.).

I am writing this review from memory, so I am not certain I have the (types) correct. The key thing is that the authors argue that sexual orientation is not the same thing as gender identity.