ABSTRACT
Transvestism and transsexualism are each severe disturbances in gender identity sharing two features so distinctive and bizarre that the conditions are often taken to be the same: first, an abnormally strong identification with women, and second, cross-dressing. Since homosexuals also have abnormally strong identifications with certain aspects of femininity, many psychiatrists mistakenly consider transvestism and transsexualism to be simply homosexual variants. The effeminate heterosexual may have an effeminate manner in his behavior and speech, may be an overly loving and “maternal” father when his children are small, and may be oversolicitous to other people and thrillingly responsive to the universe of art-may even have a considerable uneasiness regarding homosexual matters, and still can spend his intimate life comfortably only with a woman. There are two significant observable manifestations that mark the underlying differences in identity between transvestite and transsexual children.
