How do nature and nurture interact to produce a persistent awareness of one’s identity as male or as female?
How does understanding the psychology of transgendered people illuminate gender psychology?
When Deborah Rudacille learned that a close friend had decided to transition from female to male, she felt compelled to understand why.
Coming at the controversial subject of transsexualism from several angles–historical, sociological, psychological, medical–Rudacille discovered that gender variance is anything but new, that changing one’s gender has been met with both acceptance and hostility through the years, and that gender identity, like sexual orientation, appears to be inborn, not learned, though in some people the sex of the body does not match the sex of the brain.
Informed not only by meticulous research, but also by the author’s interviews with prominent members of the transgender community, The Riddle of Gender is a sympathetic and wise look at a sexual revolution that calls into question many of our most deeply held assumptions about what it means to be a man, a woman, and a human being.
More information
- Chapter “Fear of a Pink Planet” talks about DES.
- Book Review: The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, and Transgender Rights, N Engl J Med 2005; 353:1751-1752October 20, 2005DOI: 10.1056/NEJMbkrev38761.
- Book Review: The Riddle of Gender, fanniesroom, February 24, 2009.
- Customer reviews on amazon and goodreads.
- Check-out DES books album on Flickr.
More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources
- DES studies on cancers and screening.
- DES studies on epigenetics and transgenerational effects.
- DES studies on fertility and pregnancy.
- DES studies on gender identity and psychological health.
- DES studies on in-utero exposure to DES and side-effects.
- DES studies on the genital tract.
- Papers on DES lawsuits.
- DES videos and posts tagged DES, the DES-exposed, DES victims.