Introduction
Human sexuality and gender has been a topic of interest in psychology since the inception of the field. The field of psychology has made many strides in the way in which it conceives of and considers issues of sexuality such as what reflects a psychologically healthy individual and how alternative sexualities such as homosexuality are addressed; previously, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder, but we now recognize that it is not. Today, the debate has shifted away from homosexuality and towards gender dysphoria, previously gender identity disorder, and the transgender experience. There is significant debate inside and outside of the field regarding the validity of the gender dysphoria diagnosis, and there is also significant …show more content…
Prior to the DSM-III, gender identity disorder was, along with homosexuality, fetishism, and associated conditions, categorized under the label of sexual perversions that were considered morally objectionable (Koh, 2012). According to Zucker (2009) “In DSM-III, there were three relevant diagnostic entities: Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood (GIDC), Transsexualism (for adolescents and adults), and Psychosexual Disorder Not Otherwise …show more content…
According to Drescher (2009), there are three general typologies that describe etiological theories of homosexuality: theories of normal variation that treat homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality, theories of pathology that treat homosexuality as a disorder that deviates from normal heterosexual development, and theories of immaturity that regard homosexual behavior as a step towards the development of a “normal” heterosexual identity. DSM-III dropped both the original diagnosis of homosexuality and the DSM-II diagnosis of sexual orientation disturbance and replaced them with a diagnosis of ego-dystonic homosexuality (Drescher, 2009). As Drescher notes, this did not necessarily imply an acceptance of normalcy theories of homosexuality, but the removal of EDH in DSM-III-R signified an implicit acceptance of normalcy theory not found in the prior 14 years. Drescher also notes that the addition of gender identity pathology in DSM-III roughly coincides with gradual depathologization of homosexuality. This reflects a current controversy that regards gender identity disorder as a replacement for the previous diagnosis of homosexuality, and also illustrates a modern movement to eliminate the diagnosis of gender dysphoria in the same way homosexuality was removed as a
Human sexuality and gender has been a topic of interest in psychology since the inception of the field. The field of psychology has made many strides in the way in which it conceives of and considers issues of sexuality such as what reflects a psychologically healthy individual and how alternative sexualities such as homosexuality are addressed; previously, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder, but we now recognize that it is not. Today, the debate has shifted away from homosexuality and towards gender dysphoria, previously gender identity disorder, and the transgender experience. There is significant debate inside and outside of the field regarding the validity of the gender dysphoria diagnosis, and there is also significant …show more content…
Prior to the DSM-III, gender identity disorder was, along with homosexuality, fetishism, and associated conditions, categorized under the label of sexual perversions that were considered morally objectionable (Koh, 2012). According to Zucker (2009) “In DSM-III, there were three relevant diagnostic entities: Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood (GIDC), Transsexualism (for adolescents and adults), and Psychosexual Disorder Not Otherwise …show more content…
According to Drescher (2009), there are three general typologies that describe etiological theories of homosexuality: theories of normal variation that treat homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality, theories of pathology that treat homosexuality as a disorder that deviates from normal heterosexual development, and theories of immaturity that regard homosexual behavior as a step towards the development of a “normal” heterosexual identity. DSM-III dropped both the original diagnosis of homosexuality and the DSM-II diagnosis of sexual orientation disturbance and replaced them with a diagnosis of ego-dystonic homosexuality (Drescher, 2009). As Drescher notes, this did not necessarily imply an acceptance of normalcy theories of homosexuality, but the removal of EDH in DSM-III-R signified an implicit acceptance of normalcy theory not found in the prior 14 years. Drescher also notes that the addition of gender identity pathology in DSM-III roughly coincides with gradual depathologization of homosexuality. This reflects a current controversy that regards gender identity disorder as a replacement for the previous diagnosis of homosexuality, and also illustrates a modern movement to eliminate the diagnosis of gender dysphoria in the same way homosexuality was removed as a