ABSTRACT
A. I. Green has done extensive work in evaluation and treatment of childhood sexual identity conflicts. His studies indicate that “feminine” boys are at a much higher risk for transsexual, transvestite, or homosexual outcomes as adults. He also indicates that the severe maladjustment of the adult transsexual mandates intervention with the young male with a gender identity disorder. Green suggests working to reduce the alienation between father and son, and helping both find activities that they can share. “Tomboy” girls have a much lower incidence of gender identity disorder, but whether this is due to society’s acceptance of girls dressing more like boys or there is in fact a lower number of cases is unclear. When the diagnosis is made in adolescence, the psychiatrist should try to engage the patient in a long-term perspective of his or her disorder rather than in any way condoning the adolescent’s urgent request for sexual surgery or body-altering hormones.
