Abstract
The literature concerning the relationships between transsexualism and transvestism and their association with fetishism is reviewed. Sexual activity, including sexual arousal to women's clothes, is frequently reported in histories of transsexuals. Characteristics are reported of 12 male subjects who have shown sexual arousal to women's clothes and who have a sustained cross-gender identity combined with a desire for a change-of-sex operation. Diagnostic categories alternative to transsexualism for subjects who cross-dress are inadequate to classify at least some of the 12 subjects reported. Restricting the definition of transsexualism so as to exclude those who have shown fetishistic features is considered premature.
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This project was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. This research was carried out while N. B. was a Research Fellow of the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry.
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Buhrich, N., McConaghy, N. Can fetishism occur in transsexuals?. Arch Sex Behav 6, 223–235 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541130
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541130