Transitioning our Approach to transgender and transsexuality

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, It has been a busy week. I had a two and a half tele-conference and it was very interesting speaking to colleagues from Eastern and Western Canada and hearing the various accents. My country is quite large and diverse. You should visit sometimes. Of course being from Toronto the "Centre of the Universe" was mentioned and this time I agreed. After contemplating moving it seems I cannot unless I really retire because it is simply all here so for you Canadians who like to make the dig that we think we are the centre of the universe, I finally after all these years agree. Now enough about digs and more to the topic at hand. I attended an evening to hear a lecture about trasgender and transsexuality. When I was asked by some people why I would attend such a thing, since I had to miss something play time, to attend this, I responded that I help all people and so need to be knowledgeable in all areas where I need to be. That silenced the lot. I thought my knowledge was very limited in this field but I changed my mind during the lecture. The psychologist as well as being a psychoanalyist, stated that sexuality is always ambigious but I disagree. He works in the field while I am more in general practise but I rely very much on science and biology while he works mainly with his own practise in a qualitative setting. I agree that sexuality may be ambiguous for some, but not all. I will have to attend more lectures in the area of transgender, homosexuality etc... I think the objective of the lecture was based more on transference and countertransference. How do we feel about homosexuals in general? I do not regret attending the lecture because it alerted me that this Psychologist who works in the field believes that therapists and physicians need to be more sensitive. At least this is what I gleaned. We were shown one utube about a transgender youth who according to the Psychologist was very comfortable and happy. However what was an alarm bell for me was the excessive joking and rapid speech. What was being masked with all the joking? Where was the rapid speech coming from? Is it fair to assess one utube as to the happiness or unhappines of a person. I left the lecture with many more questions than I had before attending. I didn't really learn too much about transitioning as I had hoped but more about attitudes towards transgenders and transsexuals. From my own education I learned that about 10 % of the population is not heterosexual. Most pedophiles are heterosexual men. Studies involving homosexual men utilized both side of their brain as women did, where heterosexual men used one. Experiments in the past were mostly conducted with men. There is an island in the Pacific (which I learned from two psychology courses) where some children are born with female genitalia and then during puberty develop a penis. In one class the reason was not studied and in the other class it was learned that this was genetically based back to one woman on the island and it was considered a mutant. Some are born with two different genetilia and in the past the decision was made by the physician/parents to determine the gender. This did not always match to how the child felt while growing. One documentary I watched the phsyican revealed that one of her patients as young as two said she was a boy. This all sounds very biological to me. However, I am not an expert. I think that how a client feels is what is most important and that I believe was the theme of the lecture. I did attend a one day workshop offered at my college for counselling homosexuals in the Catholic church (I forgot to put that in my resume-now what year was that?). Since that took an entire day rather than 3 hours, I will need to spend more time to write about it so another time if there is an interest. In the meantime, have a wonderful long weekend. Get some fun and joy in your life. What do you think?