Author interview with Christine Johnson, Philadelphia, Pa., May 13,2002.
he acknowledged that 45 percent of his patients had hypogonadism Benjamin., Transsexual Phenomenon, 53, 75. Actually, Benjamin estimated that 40 percent of his patients showed signs of hypogonadism. In the chapter titled “The Etiology of Transsexualism,” he states: “A possible endocrine cause of transsexualism has been investigated in a few cases with great thoroughness. Beyond a few suspicious findings, no definite proof has yet been found. It may or may not have an endocrine significance that among my 152 male transsexuals, nearly 40 percent were found to have more or less distinct signs of a degree of sexual underdevelopment (hypogonadism). … In such a condition, the pituitary as well as the gonads may be at fault with, of course, an inborn reason behind it.” Benjamin’s shrewd guesses are not too far off the mark, judging from recent discoveries about the effects of EDCs.
Scott Kerlin recently uncovered a provocative lead Personal communication with the author, July 29, 2004. References H. Benjamin, “Should Surgery Be Performed on Transsexuals?” American Journal of Psychotherapy 25, no. 1 (January 1, 1971): 74-82. Also, H. Benjamin and C. L. Ihlenfeld, “Transsexualism,” American Journal of Nursing 73, no. 3 (March 1, 1973): 457-61.
They can recount exactly where they were and what they were doing See, for example, Morris, Conundrum, 15. “I was three or perhaps four years old when I realized that I had been born into the wrong body, and should really be a girl. I remember the moment well, and it is the earliest memory of my life. I was sitting beneath my mother’s piano, and her music was falling around me like cataracts, enclosing me as if in a cave…. What triggered so bizarre a thought I have long forgotten, but the conviction was unfaltering from the start.”
My former career was in the insurance industry NTAC listserv (ntacmem bers@yahoogroups.com) Tuesday, March 19, 2002.
Wonderful! For years I lived just 1A mile from a lot of those settling ponds Ibid.
These include fish, frogs, and alligators Author interview with Maverick. See also: D. M. Fry and C. K. Toone, “DDT-Induced Feminization of Gull Embryos, Science 213 (1981): 922-24; L. J. Guillette, T. S. Gross, G. R. Masson, et al., “Developmental Abnormalities of the Gonad and Abnormal Sex Hormone Concentrations in Juvenile Alligators from Contaminated and Control Lakes in Florida,” Environmental Health Perspectives 102 (1994): 680-88; T. Hayes, K. Haston, M. Tsui, A. Hoang, C. Haeffle, and A. Vonk, “Atrazine-Induced Hermaphroditism at 0.1 ppb in American Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens): Laboratory and Field Evidence,” Environmental Health Perspectives in, no. 4 (April 2003): 568—75.
the concept is ahead of the science Author conversation with James Yager, Ph.D., Baltimore, Md., May 31, 2002.
estrogens are considered reversible cellular signals McLachlan, “Environmental Signaling,” 333.
when a gene programmed to respond to estradiol at puberty is misprogrammed Ibid., 335.
McLachlan points to one interesting example McLachlan, referencing J. R. Tanner, “St. Anthony’s Fire, Then and Now: A Case Report and Historical Review,” Canadian Journal of Surgery 30 (1987): 291—93.
individuals exhibiting the bizarre symptoms of St. Anthony’s fire J. McLachlan, “Environmental Signaling,” 335.
More people are coming around Author interview with Milton Diamond, Philadelphia Pa., March 21, 2003; Milton Diamond, “Pediatric Management of Ambiguous and Tramatized Genitalia.” Journal of Urology 162 (1999): 1021-28.
what is gender-specific behavior H. F. Meyer-Bahlburg, J. F. Feldman, P. Cohen, and A. A. Erhardt, “Perinatal Factors in the Development of Gender-Related Play Behavior: Sex Hormones versus Pregnancy Complications,” Psychiatry 51, no. 3 (1988): 260-71. See also Hestien Vreugdenhil, Froukje M. E. Slijper, Paul G. H. Mulder, and Nynke Weisglas-Kuperus, “Effects of Perinatal Exposure to PCBs and Dioxins on Play Behavior in Dutch Children at School Age,” Environmental Health Perspectives no, no. 10 (October 2002): 593-98; D. E. Sandberg, J. E. Venn, J. Weiner, G. P. Beehler, M. Swanson, and H. F. Meyer-Bahlburg, “Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment and Children’s Behavior: Assessing Effects on Children’s Gender Dimorphic Behavior Outcomes,” Epidemiology 14, no. 2 (March 2003): 148-55.
the subject of essential sex differences in the mind is clearly very delicate Baron- Cohen, Essential Difference, 1.
Systematizing and empathising are wholly … different processes Ibid., 3.
Diagnoses of autism, like those for gender identity disorder, have been rising steadily over the past few decades “The U.S. Department of Education reports a 900 percent increase in cases of autism since 1992. On C-Span exhausted, terrified, furious parents vent their hopeless wrath during congressional hearings investigating claims that Big Pharma has ignored for years their belief that pediatric vaccinations precipitated their child’s acquisition of autism. Is the mercury-based preservative contained in the vaccine— thimerosal—overwhelming the baby’s premature immune system? … Sensing the inevitable, bills exonerating vaccine manufacturers from liability snake their way through Congress. The most notorious of which, a rider, Mickey Finn’d at the nth hour into the density of the Homeland Security Bill under cover of smallpox, attempted to exempt Eli Lilly from any and all damages related to vaccine complaints. The provision’s author? Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Uncovered by public watchdogs, it has since been removed from the bill.” Scot Sea, “Planet Autism,” Salon, September 27, 2003. Available online at http:// www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/07/27/autism/index.html.
Two interesting (though unrelated) facts are buried in this excerpt— mercury is a known endocrine disrupter, and the Eli Lilly Company was also one of the primary manufacturers of DES. 277 The navy discharged me in ‘j4 See “A Life of Service: Sister Mary, Whose Past Has Seen Many Painful Twists and Turns, Now Brings Comfort to Others with the World’s Most Comprehensive Web Site on AIDS and HIV,” Jean O. Pasco, Los Angeles Times (Home Edition), December 1,1997; “Sharing the Word on AIDS Technology: Patients and Others Can Count on Sister Mary Elizabeth’s Electronic Bulletin Board in San Juan Capis- trano to Provide Extensive Information for Free,” Leslie Berkman, Los Angeles Times (Orange County Edition), April 18, 1994; “There Is Still a Prayer for New Religious Order,” Lynn Smith, Los Angeles Times (Orange County Edition), November 14, 1988; “Vows Repudiated: Bishop Blocks Transsexual Nun’s Order,” Lynn Smith, Los Angeles Times (Orange County Edition), January 8,1988.
