ABSTRACT
It is impossible to say when the first surgery was performed with the intent to relieve gender dysphoria. In part, this depends on how one defines “surgery.” Surely, the surgical alteration of genitalia to relieve the agony of a transsexual individual was not initiated in the twentieth century. People throughout the world have voluntarily undergone surgery, in the sense of “traumatic alterations,” to modify their bodies in such a way as to “change their sex.” Ancient people witnessed the method and effects of animal castration and observed that removal of human testicles at a sufficiently early age would prevent masculinization, thus rendering a human male permanently childlike.
