For this month’s discussion group, held on 20 February 2023, we read Janice Raymond‘s, The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male.

The book was suggested by Evan, who has read it in its entirety. For this group we decided to focus solely on the Introduction to the 1994 edition of the book, a FREE PDF of which is available on Raymond’s website.

The book itself is a classic, which has long been out of print, with rare copies advertised available online at prices ranging from £800-2000.

The Transsexual Empire was originally published in 1979, but anyone familiar with current debates around gender is likely to get a sense of déjà vu. Although there are slight differences in terminology (e.g. ‘gender dissatisfaction’ is now ‘gender dysphoria’) and social media has vastly amplified the ideology, the issues raised by and discussed by Raymond seem almost identical to the issues that are being discussed now.

Rather than trying to craft an essay style review of the book, David put together a summary of points made by participants throughout the discussion.

Transgender as a case for medical treatment: 

Note the similarity between John Hopkins in US dismantling down their Gender Identity Committee (GIV) in the early 1980s and GIDS / Tavistock in UK in 2022.

The official reason given when John Hopkins dismantled the Gender Identity Committee (GIV), was a study by Jon Meyer, which found no difference in long-term adjustment between individuals who had transsexual surgery and those who didn’t. Meyer concluded surgery was a “palliative measure” that did not cure the psychological / mental distress. Surgeries continued elsewhere, though in late 80s and 90s there was more criticism towards medical treatment.

Quotes from the book: 

• “[because] “transsexualism effectively has become a medical problem, the medical model prevails as the legitimate and dominant form of therapy [which includes psychiatric / psychological evaluation, hormonal and surgical intervention].” 
• “A primary effect of defining transsexualism as a medical problem is to encourage persons to view other persons (especially children) who do not engage in normative sex-role behavior as potential transsexuals” [This is indeed happening with toddlers being seen as transgender currently.]
  
  

  Links to child sexual abuse images (sometimes called ‘child porn’) and incest: 

  Raymond hypothesises that other influential reasons were the fact that John Money (founder and chief publicist for the John Hopkins programme and a member of the  GIC) had branched into realms of child pornography and incest (e.g. differentiating between traumatic and non-traumatic incest).
  
  Reinforcing patriarchal attitudes: 

  Raymond quotes that 85% of surgeries were male to female transitions at one institution, ascribing it to men’s higher freedom and their wish to escape rigid gender roles. Raymond also contrasts this with medical science’s tendency to seek to make women more ‘feminine’ (e.g. breast implants, IVF etc) and thus confirming to male-dominant images and roles of femininity. This seems to have changed quite a bit as young women and girls now increasingly identify as men.
  
  Quotes from the book: 

  • “it should not be surprising that men, who have literally and figuratively, constructed women for centuries, are now ‘perfecting’ the man-made women out of their own flesh.” [ In the current climate this seems to relate to those men who are trying to determine who can and can’t be a woman.] 
  • “female reality [is what] that the surgically-constructed woman does not possess, not because women innately carry some essence of femininity but because these men have not had to live in a female body with all the history that entails. It is that history that is basic to female reality, and yes, history is based to a certain extent on female biology”
    
    

    Misogyny: 

    Max Robinson, author of Detransition: Beyond Before and After, argues that there are lots of reasons for being trans, but all are based on misogyny. Cross dressing men adopt signs of oppression e.g. high heels. And “gender bending” of the Boy George type doesn’t work as a way of challenging gender expectations but rather reinforces them. Genuine gender nonconformity would surely involve things like rejecting pornography/patriarchal male attitudes.
    
    Pertaining to misogyny (but not mentioned in the text we covered), is the surprising development of ‘transmaxxing’ whereby incel attitudes provide a pipeline to trans identification.
    
    Crossdressing is used to show that “men are oppressed too”. This is promoted by Andrea Long Chu, who in her book Females states that “Sissy porn made me trans” and “Autogynephilia describes not an obscure paraphilic affliction but rather the basic structure of all human sexuality.” (quotes taken from Amazon reviews).
    
    Thus it appears that there is a ‘black ops’-style exercise by sexist right-wing men, who are infiltrating spaces that advocate transgenderism.
    
    Other points/continuities between 1979 and now: 

    • Critics of the Raymond’s views refer to ‘anti-trans’, ‘transphobia’ and gender essentialism (whatever that means) just as modern critics do. 
    • Difference between gender self ID (considered valid) and race self-ID (considered racist).
    • Comparison of gender dissatisfaction / dysmorphia with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. All labelled as illnesses. 
    • Neoliberal influence – everything is a choice, you can fix or “just snap out of” any problem. 
    • How to distinguish between “good” (genuine?) vs “bad” transsexuals.
      
      Further reading: 

      Evan recommended we read the entire book and discuss it at another meeting, as it asks important questions regarding mental health, therapy etc and also noted that Raymond has a more recent book Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge to Transgenderism (2021), that addresses transgenderism.