1966: Intro to Transsexual Phenomena, Harry Benjamin

The TRANSSEXUAL PHENOMENON Harry Benjamin, M.D Preface and Acknowledgement There is a challenge as well as a handicap in writing a book on a subject that is not yet covered in the medical literature. Transsexualism is such a subject. The handicap lies in the absence of all previous observations to which to compare one’s own, and which would thus allow a more meaningful appraisal of the entire problem The challenge lies in the novelty of these observations and in the attempt to describe clinical pictures and events without preconceived notions, with no axes to grind, and with no favorites to play. Conclusions, therefore, are “untainted,” growing out of direct observance. As one who is neither surgeon nor psychiatrist – but rather as a student of sexological problems, and also as a long-time practitioner in sexology – I feel myself to be in a good position for the necessary objectivity. There

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