Dear Doctor Benjamin: Letters from Transsexual Youth (1963–1976)

Abstract

Due to his high public profile, Harry Benjamin was often the first contact for those who identified as transsexual in the 1960s and 1970s, until his retirement in 1976. Among the over 800 letters from transsexuals written to Benjamin, 21 were from youth seeking his medical assistance. These letters, written from 1963–1976, provide a rare window into the lives and subjectivities of transsexual youth before the modern transgender movement took shape. Often taking the form of short autobiographies, these pioneers wrote about the meaning of their genders and sexualities, sometimes in great detail. Narrative analyses of these letters focused on narrative explanations for their transsexual desire; how Benjamin, his colleagues, and transsexual correspondents co-constructed transsexual narratives; and the rejection of these youth by their families and peers.