ABSTRACT
Transsexualism has been recognized as a psychiatric classification since 1980. Ethical debate about transsexualism was reignited in Australia in 2004 when the Family Court of Australia gave permission for a 13-year-old girl to begin hormone therapy as a prelude to possible reassignment surgery when she reached the age of majority. Adhering to the strict guidelines, however, might not be acceptable to some transsexuals. In the treatment of transsexualism, there is a convergence of three very different medical specialties: psychiatry, medicine, and surgery. There are differing views about how transsexualism came to be accepted as a psychiatric condition. What we do know from retrospective research is that two factors seem to point to greater overall success. The first of these is the age at which surgery is performed and the age at onset of the feelings of being a transsexual. The second is the extent to which the surgery is un-problematic or successful in its own right.
