Why some Women want to become Men

They say "Congratulations! It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!" Often these are the first words uttered when a baby is born. This utterance is based on the genitals visible between the newborn's legs.

From then onwards the infant's fate is sealed and his or her training starts in earnest. A boy is given toys like guns, cars, tanks and construction kits. Girls are given dolls, kitchen sets and sewing kits. Society even decides which color the baby will wear - blue for a boy and pink for a girl.

This gender-related difference continues throughout a child's upbringing, eventually resulting in an adult who has been trained to behave in a strictly feminine or masculine manner. Anyone who doesn't conform is labeled a weirdo.

However, whereas a child's sex is simply decided on the basis of the organs between the legs, its gender identity (self-identification as male or female) is decided by several complex factors which have still not been fully understood by the medical profession. This is what transsexualism is all about.

Gender identity is the sense of belonging that one feels for a particular sex, not only biologically but also psychologically and socially. It is an extremely subjective entity, which is independent of one's biological sex.

What is transsexualism?

Quite apart from the biological sex that we are born under (determined by the genitals between the legs ), all of us possess a gender identity.

Transsexualism is a form of gender identity disorder (gender dysphoria ) in which a person with a normal particular anatomical sexual differentiation is convinced that he or she is actually a member of the opposite sex. This conviction which is accompanied by a profound hatred for the individual's own sexual characteristics, is absolute, overwhelming and unalterable.

Classification:

1. TOTAL- Transsexualism
          Transvestite
          (cross-dressing for erotic arousal)
2. PARTIAL UNLIMITED- Gumminess / Androgenesis Transvestism
                      (desire to live as a member of the opposite sex)
3. PARTIAL LIMITED- Homosexuality
                    Bisexualism
                    Lesbianism

Transsexualism can be defined as an incongruent between the biological sex and gender-identity and it is the most extreme form of gender dysphoria. (vide table)

In-order to label a person as a transsexual the following criteria need to be satisfied :

   1. The person must experience a sense of discomfort and inappropriateness about his/ her anatomic sex.
   2. The person must have a desire to be rid of his/her own genitals and to live as a member of the opposite sex.
   3. The disturbance needs to have been continuous for at least 2 years and not limited only to periods of stress.
   4. There must not be any genetic abnormality or congenital sex hormone disorders.
   5. There should be an absence of coexistent mental disorder such as schizophrenia.