The personal and social development of a transsexual individual living in Malta : a case study in psychology

Abstract

The objective of this research is to explore the lived experience of a male-to-female transsexual in the Maltese context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a transsexual individual, two relatives and a friend for the purpose of forming a case study. The goal of this research is to explore the event were an individual has a gender identity opposite to the biological sex, thus leading to the decision to transition into a member of the opposite sex. Most results in the study were consistent with the literature findings: hence a boy from a young age shows 'girly' behaviour, associates with girls, and engages in play with girl stereotypical toys. Furthermore adolescence is usually a period of unhappiness and confusion for these individuals. Nonetheless not all results were consistent with the literature: namely that during adolescents transsexual individuals want to be distinguished as members of the opposite sex, this was not evident in the participant. Moreover the participant did not live as a female for two years before undergoing the sex reassignment surgery hence this finding is inconsistent with the criteria outlined in the standards of care published by The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (2001).