Author Description

Gender dysphoria is a 700+- page bibliography of the literature of transsexualism. I didn’t realize it as I was preparing the manuscript. It was only when I was listening to Phyllis Frye speak at her International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy in Texas that it came to me: I was the first transsexual to produce a book-length nonautobiographical contribution to the medical and psychological literature of transsexualism—the only out-of-the-closet transsexual, anyway. It astonished me. When I founded The American Educational Gender Information Service in 1990, I began compiling a bibliography of transsexualism, crossdressing, and intersexuality. After several years it had become voluminous. When I sent a copy to the late Dr. Vern Bullough he suggested I publish it. A week or so later I found a contract from Garland Publishers in the AEGIS mailbox. I signed and returned it and Gender Dysphoria: A Guide to Research was born. Published in 1994, Gender Dysphoria was printed on acid-free paper with acid-free covers that will make the work last centuries. It weighs in at 704 pages. Vern Bullough wrote the Foreword. Gender Dysphoria is a comprehensive bibliography. There are thousands of entries, with sections for books, book chapters and journal articles, legal cases, and material from the popular press. A 76-page Index cross-references the entries. It would be difficult if not impossible for a single person to attempt such a task today—there’s simply too much material. Books, mostly self-published autobiographies, appear weekly, and as many and sometimes more than 100 articles a day are published. Most are in the popular press. In 1992, however, compiling a comprehensive bibliography of transsexualism was a manageable task—just. Pretty much every book and article in the scientific literature through 1992 can be found in the pages of Gender Dysphoria. Richard Green once told me he kept a copy on his desk. I was flattered. By the time Gender Dysphoria appeared, I regretted the title. I had long since stopped using the term to refer to transsexual and transgendered people. – Dallas Denny