ABSTRACT
A clear distinction was made between transvestism and transsexualism. Both syndromes were in any case firmly placed in the category of perversions. The clinical material relevant to transvestites and transsexuals is composite and fragmentary. In the identification–disidentification play, each individual gradually constitutes his or her own gender identity and that of the other, more as a dynamic network of relationships than as a rigid structure. Regarding the acquisition of sexual identity, the problem of so-called “disidentification from the mother” is often mentioned, and there has always been substantial agreement on the conceptualizations expressed by Greenson. The doctor and the surgeon must be the ones to execute it, and the psychologist is the compliant witness. In a kind of evil collusion with each other, the first responsible are the doctors–endocrinologists and surgeons–who have not the humility to admit the natural limitations of every therapeutic act.
