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2014-07-27 New study by the WHO, a special issue by The Scientific World Journal, and miscellaneous news …

posted 27 Jul 2014, 08:07 by Cake Kidd   [ updated 2 Aug 2014, 03:32 ]

Heya,

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published a 2014 study by Mira Schneiders, called “Values and preferences of transgender people: a qualititative study”. Although much of it is devoted to HIV infection, it still is quite interesting and gives a good summary of the needs of transsexuals. For example, it reports the wish for over-the-counter hormones and suggests reducing gatekeeping mechanisms for gender-affirming surgery. I included it into my reference pages where applicable. (Link: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128119/1/WHO_HIV_2014.21_eng.pdf)

The Scientific World Journal has published a 2014 special issue “Gender Dysphoria: The Role of Sex Reassignment Surgery”. Main contributors to the nine articles are a group of Serbian researchers, which has been very active in this field. Despite the title, the issue also includes articles studying finger lengths, personality disorders, etc. Relevant articles have been included in my reference pages. (Link: http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/specialissues/714651.pdf)

Now a quick overview of the studies I added today:

  • Amy Wisniewski et al. write in the magazine “Hormones and Behavior”, 2014, that otoacoustic emissions are probably useful markers for early brain exposure to androgen and even for predicting gender development. (If you remember, Sarah Burke et al. found earlier that gender-dysphoric natal boys had female-typical otoacoustic emissions.)

  • Vojkan Vukadinovic (a serious sounding name, if there is one!) of the Serbian group of researchers et al. write in “The Scientific World Journal” in 2014 that their FtM SRS approach leads to overall satisfaction and high quality of life.

  • Mira Schneiders found in the above-mentioned 2014 WHO study that hormone treatment is described as “supporting psychological well-being and self-actualization” and says about SRS that “Major psychological distress was reported by those wishing to undergo surgery but unable to do so. – Great relief and improvement to well-being was reported by those able to undergo surgery.”.

  • Dragana Duišin et al. report in “The Scientific World Journal” in 2014 on personality disorders among transsexuals and find that MtF transsexuals are worse off than FtM (a frequent finding in similar studies). In my view, this further supports the view that social discrimination is largely responsible for the difficulties transsexuals have. FtM integrate more easily into society and face fewer difficulties. For an interesting view of the transphobia against men and women in our society, have a look at Julie Serano’s book “Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity” (I hope to provide a review shortly… my take on it is that I like it ☺)

Oh, and supermodel Andrej Pejic finally came out as transsexual! Good for her – maybe she can serve as a positive role model… for me, I would like to have her discipline in starving herself  being careful about what she eats… ☺

And... on the current political situation in Europe… I’m both sad and shocked at the shooting down of the Malaysian Boeing in Eastern Ukraine… So many Europeans have worked so hard and diligently to build a politcal system of peace, freedom and cooperation since the second world war. With the help of institutions such as the EU and NATO, Europe has had remarkable success, and managed to rise above the ghosts of the past. One hundred years after World War I, we see again how much a small group of power-hungry, nationalist, aggressive, anti-social and immoral people can destroy in a very short time.

I guess Russia is unable to agree to the principle of self-determination and democracy, since this would open the way to secession for some regions of Russia. So they have to resort to violence, taking what they wish by force. Putin needs to be resisted. I wish Europe could act with one foreign policy, with one voice… This situation shows again why we have to work towards this goal – small squabbling nation states only looking after their own interests can not adequately resolve international crises.

I think there is more I wanted to say… but I have lost the overview … so that’s me for now… ☺

Take care and listen to some good music!