IJ TRANSGENDER - XVII HBGIDA - Abstract - Closets: The Use of External Structure to Reinforce Internal Structure for Suppression of Transgender Feelings and Behaviors

Editors:
Friedemann Pfäfflin,
Ulm University, Germany

Walter O. Bockting,
University of Minnesota, USA

Eli Coleman,
University of Minnesota, USA

Richard Ekins,
University of Ulster at Coleraine, UK

Dave King,
University of Liverpool, UK

Managing Editor:
Noelle N Gray,
University of Minnesota, USA

Editorial Assistant:
Erin Pellett,
University of Minnesota, USA

Editorial Board

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ISSN 1434-4599

XVII Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
31 October - 4 November 2001, Galveston, Texas, U.S.A.

Closets: The Use of External Structure to Reinforce Internal Structure for Suppression of Transgender Feelings and Behaviors

SAMONS, SANDRA U.S.A.
E-mail: homsted@aol.com

When a MtF transgendered person presents for psychological treatment, a personal history will often reveal that the individual has made life choices on overcompensating transgender negativity or hypermasculinity. They contribute to making change more difficult at this later time in the person’s life. A primary example would be the choice to marry a woman who is extremely rigid in her negative views of transgender. These choices become a significant factor in the timing for when the person will begin addressing his/her transgender and they certainly make the treatment process more complicated. A closet can be a wonderful thing. It can provide a safe haven and reinforce a flagging internal structure for suppressing identification with females. This can appear to be helpful during a life stage when the transgendered person doesn’t yet accept his/her own transgender. A closet can also become a trap. Once the individual begins to accept his/her transgender and desires to be more open and to reexamine options for gender expression, then a closet becomes very confining and can even lead to clinical levels of depression and anxiety. This discussion examines the ways external structure can be used to reinforce the suppression of transgender feelings and urges. It also examines the ways this external structure complicates the life of the individual when he/she decides to accept and act on her/his transgender feelings. It identifies factors that need to be taken into account when a client is considering such a change.