WPATH Mission Statement Change

[LeaP]

I don't recall seeing any mention of this to-date. If this has been reported already, I apologize for the redundancy.

WPATH is proposing changing their mission statement, according to the April President's Note on their website:

http://www.wpath.org/documents/05-01-12.docx

The change is from (bolding is mine):

"As an international multidisciplinary professional Association the mission of WPATH is to promote evidence based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy and respect in transgender health."

To:

"As an international multidisciplinary professional Association, the mission of WPATH is to promote evidence-based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy and respect in transsexual and transgender health."

This seems to follow their trend in distinguishing transsexual from transgender and gender non-conforming, as already reflected in their vision statement. Perhaps the umbrella isn't as big as it used to be?

[Inna]

How appropriate, I for the longest time seemed to look upon our community as a solid one, but then simply, started to see fractions which drifted further apart as I grew in my own transition. As I have learned beyond my naive view of the transgender aspect, I was seeking wholeness of womanhood, and contrary to my previous view, not everyone was seeking the same. In fact As I discovered, very few trully did simply everything to pursue femininity of a GG and then I started to value the transsexual term which truly best described my condition.
I hope I am beyond the terms to simply arrive at just a simple, boring Woman label, but do support the change in recognition of those few who seek simply womanhood in all its aspects, good, bad and crampy real....LOL


LUV!

[MC-lite]

Long overdue, IMHO. TS -IS- different from TG / GNC, and the treatment is different. Most TSes need horomones and surgery. Many TGs do not. If they're seperated, pehaps the proper care will be provided for all.

[ReneeT]

I don't read that much into into it (disclaimer: I am a WPATH member). The umbrella is as broad as ever but does recognize that there are important differences between TS and non-TS gender non-conforming people. It is well worth reading the full SOC, 7th ed. That would shed some light on the focus of WPATH

[Ashlie Marie]

I think it's great even in talks that I go to lately and other things I have read tg is the new cd in a way. See for me until that day I woke up and said hey I'm a girl I thought I was tg but now being a ts female according to my insurance co I very truly beleive there is a difference

[danielleb]

It seems that these rewrites conveniently coincide with the review of the DSM. I think for those of us here in the US this is really what will have the largest impact and I'm not sure the way WPATH is separating things is going to help our case when everyone likes to apply simple definitions. Not that I think they're wrong in any way, just that it's a hard sell for most people.

[Traci Elizabeth]

To me, WPATH is just an unneeded obstacle to have to climb over to schedule SRS. Perhaps it has been beneficial for some but I knew I was a girl (then woman) at a very young age. My transition to living my life 24/7 as the woman I have always been on the inside has been nothing but positive, re-affirming, liberating, and self-fulfilling. Both of my Psychiatrists signed off on my SRS letter stating that I am an "excellent" candidate for the surgery and that I would greatly benefit from it.

Go ahead and say what you will! :lalala::lalala:

[LeaP]

I don't read that much into into it (disclaimer: I am a WPATH member). The umbrella is as broad as ever but does recognize that there are important differences between TS and non-TS gender non-conforming people. It is well worth reading the full SOC, 7th ed. That would shed some light on the focus of WPATH

More interesting than important, I think. I did re-read the SOC7. WPATH actually seems to consistently use "gender non-conforming" as their preferred umbrella term in the document. They distinguish TG and TS throughout.

[ReneeT]

To me, WPATH is just an unneeded obstacle to have to climb over to schedule SRS. Perhaps it has been beneficial for some but I knew I was a girl (then woman) at a very young age. My transition to living my life 24/7 as the woman I have always been on the inside has been nothing but positive, re-affirming, liberating, and self-fulfilling. Both of my Psychiatrists signed off on my SRS letter stating that I am an "excellent" candidate for the surgery and that I would greatly benefit from it.

Go ahead and say what you will! :lalala::lalala:

I have to disagree. In your case, maybe. The standards, though, ensure that all patients are evaluated and treated in a consistent fashion and that such evaluation and treatment is based on the best available evidence. This is not unique to treatment of gender identity issues. Wherever there is broad clinical agreement on the appropriate appoach, medical onditions in general are managed this way. Surgical treatment of morbid obesity is a great example.

For every patient who is a slam dunk case and for whom adherence to the SOC is just a roadblock, there are many others who have avoided mis diagnosis and inappropriate treatment, with potentially disastrous results. I am by no means saying that its a perfect situation, but, IMHO (and professional opinion), the standards are a logical, evidence-based apprach to managing an extremely complex physical and psychological condition

[Traci Elizabeth]

ple.

For every patient who is a slam dunk case and for whom adherence to the SOC is just a roadblock,..


I totally agree with you about all the folks who need to follow the criteria as out lined in Version 7 and to catch those who should not move forward.

[Melody Moore]

I had this argument and fell out with the chairman of the conference committee I was on over the correct labels to
be using to target specific groups to invite them to the conference. This happened after a community consultation
meeting was held and a transsexual woman stood up and said that she would not support any event that was labelled
"transgender" because she does not see herself as a transgender woman. When it was discussed in the meeting
the Chairman said that the transsexual community would have to just 'get over it'. I was appalled and quit the
committee over this decision. I even highlighted this fact that not even WPATH attempted to include transsexuals
with transgender and non gender conforming people.

At the end of the day transsexual people are very different to transgender people and it is time others realised that,
especially a chairman of a committee who is also a service provider for trans healthcare services. So thanks for this
because I am going to use this now to make a point with this guy.

[Jorja]

As many of you know here, I started my transition in 1980. Back in those days and before, there was very little in publication on the subject of transsexualism unless you wanted the world to know what you were looking for. You see, you had to go to what is called a library and find the information if you wanted it. This usually involved other people to help with the search. There was no internet.

In those days, gender therapists were basically unheard of. The whole (for a lack of a better word) “system” we know today was in its infancy. SRS operations were being performed in a few places but were extremely expensive. There were many many girls that lost their lives in the “back alley” chop shops. Many had SRS to fulfill a fantasy and were later so unhappy with what they had done, they killed themselves. It was out of control. It was crazy. Not a week would go by without a death. The only question was, who is next?

As I started coming out I was asked to sit on a panel in my home state of Hawaii. The government and medical professionals wanted to find a way to stop some of the horrific things going on within the community. At about this time is when I first heard of Dr. Harry Benjamin. Some of the things he wrote about sounded quite good too many on the panel. So we started to follow his ideas somewhat. This started to bring together professionals dedicated to developing best practices and supportive policies for treating transgendered patients. From that you know that The Harry Benjamin Standards of Care were born and eventually evolved into WPATH.

I feel that WPATH has overgrown itself and has taken the gatekeeper mentality to the extreme but it is far better that what we had back in the earlier days. I think that WPATH separating Transsexual from Transgender is an obvious move. Over the years it has become quite evident that there is a difference and each requires different treatment and solutions. The more we learn the more the umbrella will change.

[LeaP]

I feel that WPATH has overgrown itself and has taken the gatekeeper mentality to the extreme but it is far better that what we had back in the earlier days. I think that WPATH separating Transsexual from Transgender is an obvious move. Over the years it has become quite evident that there is a difference and each requires different treatment and solutions. The more we learn the more the umbrella will change.

I'm not so sure of this. Clearly it WAS the case. The SOC has been softened, however, allowing more latitude on HRT and RLE guidelines, and stressing that individual practitioners have flexibility. The people most insistent on a strict view of the SOC seems to be the SRS surgeons, presumably for liability protection. Therapists and endos appear to be willing to appropriately tailor care to circumstances.

No matter how you construe it, though, it IS still gatekeeping.

[Jorja]

I'm not so sure of this. Clearly it WAS the case. The SOC has been softened, however, allowing more latitude on HRT and RLE guidelines, and stressing that individual practitioners have flexibility. The people most insistent on a strict view of the SOC seems to be the SRS surgeons, presumably for liability protection. Therapists and endos appear to be willing to appropriately tailor care to circumstances.

No matter how you construe it, though, it IS still gatekeeping.

Yes, some dummy that was typing forgot to add in "but I think they are trying to police themselves and trying to correct this".

[Raquel June]

At the end of the day transsexual people are very different to transgender people ...

I just think it's all a little silly. The words are nearly self-explanatory.

Transgender people are people whose gender doesn't match their body. Transsexual people are the ones who do something about it.

I suppose "heterogender" would be a little more logical term to refer to someone whose gender doesn't match their body. But, regardless, I think it's a softer term to use than transsexual, and it's a fine term to use since transsexuals are all transgender.

But I just think it's stupid that transgender has become a blanket term that is used for CDs and anybody else that isn't completely boring when it comes to fitting into the norms of gender. Because if some guy wants to be accepted as a guy but likes to wear panties now and then, there's nothing "trans" about his gender.