Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment Richard Green and John Money (Eds.). Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins Press, 1969.  xxii + 507 pp.

This book is dedicated to Harry Benjamin, “the pioneer of transsexual research. His compassion and courage in treatment of the transsexual patient opened a new frontier in the knowledge of human nature.” The term “transsexual” was coined by Benjamin for men who want to be women and for women who want to be men. They are not identical with the “transvestite,” who only dresses in the clothes of the opposite sex without desiring anatomical changes through surgery.

Benjamin and his group of pioneering coworkers realized very early in their work that the recognition and treatment of transsexualism raises a multitude of medical, social, psychological, and legal questions. Thirty-five contributors discuss these various aspects of transsexualism.

Part 1 (four chapters) is about the social and clinical aspects and especially the manifestations of transsexualism in childhood. Part 2 (seven chapters) is devoted to the psychological ramifications of transsexualism, while the chapters of Part 3 investigate the somatic aspects. Part 4 (thirteen chapters), dealing with the treatment aspects of transsexualism, constitutes the bulk of this volume. Gender change cannot be