April 13, 2010 - transvestic fetishism? i don't think so

So the American psychiatric Association is accepting public consultations on their proposed draft 5 of the DSM.

These folks have engaged the services of Ray Blanchard and Ken Zucker from Canada's infamous CAMH Gender Identity Clinic. It appears that these folks have been brainwashed into thinking that transsexualism is the same thing as transvestitism. They are looking to label people as 'mentally disordered' who cross dress 3 times in their life and fantasize about sex, and/or people who fantasize about sex while being in the opposite gender role and/or opposite biological sex.
this fake mental illness, interestingly enough, will only apply to biological males, not biological females.. finally, they are also looking to invent another fake mental illness where anyone (cis or trans) who finds a transperson sexually attractive, is also mentally ill.

well, i decided to sign up and give them a piece of my mind. chances are they will not post my comments, so i am taking advantage of the free internet world to share my thoughts for the world to see.

i urge everyone out there who has any medical designation to please speak out against these CAMH quacks and let's take steps to ensure that transsexuals become one step closer to getting the care that they need, rather than continue to face inappropriate fake mental illness labels that do nothing to help their transition or help them gain societal acceptance.

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302.3 Transvestic Fetishism

just because someone fantasizes about sexual activity while either cross dressing or while having a biological body that matches one's perceived gender identity (transsexualism) does not necessarily constitute a fetish.

it's kind of like suggesting that a cancer patient who fantasizes that they are cured from cancer and are having sex while cured is also someone who is suffering from a mental disorder a la paraphilic fetish.

people who have birth defects such as transsexualism, obviously, dream of having a body that matches their inner identity. and history seems to have proven that surgery, not reparative therapy, is the only consistently successful remedy.

there is a big difference from a transvestite (someone who does dress up for fetish reasons, yet has no desire or perceived requirement to undertake corrective surgery) and a transsexual (someone who passes thru the W-path Standards of Care and is perceived to require SRS).

whether one is cis or trans, sexual fantacies is something all human beings do. to suggest that cis fantacies are 'normal' and to suggest that trans fantacies are 'mentally disordered' is highly ridiculous.

furthermore, the fact that you only want to label male to female fanticizers as disordered, yet don't mention female to male fanticizers disordered, is a blantant act of sexism and further deminishes your feable attempt to carry on inappropriately labelling transsexualism as a mental disorder.

finally, to suggest that one who masturbates 3 times in their life while cross dressed is a paraphilic fetishist and/or is an autogyniphile is completely ridiculous. that's kinda like saying that someone who has drank 3 beers in their life while concurrently fantasizing about sex is an alcoholic-paraphilic-fetishist who is mentally disordered.

finally, to suggest that cis people who are attracted to trans are mentally disordered? that one won't fly either. many transpeople are passable and cis people have no way of knowing whether one is trans or not. so is it really fair to label people disordered for finding passable transpeople attractive? gimme a break! furthermore, non-passing transpeople can be loving individuals who live fairly regular lives.. there's no reason to be labeling the cis partners of transpeople as mentally ill. you folks need to stop inventing fake mental illnesses that don't really exist and start taking steps to ensure that transpeople are able to access the HRT and SRS that they so desperately need. and you need to take steps to stop labeling transpeople as 'mentally ill' as this only adds to an inapproproate negative stereotype.

Jennifer