Role Reversal

Curbing transsexual surgery

Nearly 30 years ago, an ex-G.I. from The Bronx journeyed to Copenhagen to become blond Christine Jorgensen. Ever since, sex-change operations have been performed routinely as a cure for serious sexual identity problems. Males were treated with hormones that encouraged loss of facial hair and growth of breasts; subsequent surgery transformed the scrotum and penis into a functioning vagina. In females, hormones were given to develop masculine characteristics, followed by the implantation of an artificial phallus.

Last week the surgery came under a surprise attack. At Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where about 50 sex-change operations have been performed since 1966, doctors announced they were abandoning the surgery for all but hermaphrodites (those born with male and female organs). Reason: a new study finds no difference in long-term adjustment between transsexuals who go under the scalpel and those who do not.

Conducted by Psychiatrist Jon K. Meyer, director of the hospital's sexual consultation program, the study grew out of a concern that many transsexuals seeking surgery ranged in age from 20 to 30 (men outnumbering women 4 to 1). Somehow those over 30 seemed to have lost the desire for it, settling instead for alternate lifestyles. So, in 1971, Meyer began keeping track of his patients' postoperative acceptance of their new gender, using such indicators as job placement, marital success, psychiatric status and police records. Concludes Meyer: the surgery "serves as a palliative measure ... [but] it does not cure what is essentially a psychiatric disturbance." -

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