Brief History of Gender Affirmation Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Gender dysphoria is the inner conflict and distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and that person’s sex assigned at birth. The earliest reports of gender identity alteration can be traced back to 1500 BC in ancient Egypt and during the Roman Empire (509 to 27 BC). During the modern era, Magnus Hirschfeld was considered the father of transgender healthcare and established the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin. This was the world’s first institute devoted to sexology and was the site of the first documented gender affirmation surgery: orchiectomy, penectomy, and vaginoplasty in a transgender female patient. Dr. Harry Benjamin was a close friend of Hirschfeld who also had a keen interest in transgender healthcare and advocacy. Dr. Benjamin assisted hundreds of transgender individuals by prescribing hormones and suggested they visit surgeons abroad for gender affirmation surgeries. He later founded the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), which outlined standards of care for transgender individuals who desired medical and surgical treatment. In 2007, HBIGDA became known as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which is a professional organization dedicated to the care and treatment of individuals with gender dysphoria today.