Denise is a woman who had sex reassignment surgery about a year before this video interview. She describes having been born a boy, but always feeling more as though she was meant to be a girl. As a boy of nine, “he” finally found words to explain his transgendered state, and also realized from seeing a television program that surgery was available to change genders. Now that Denise has become a woman physically, she seems happy with her life and her current romantic relationship with a man. She describes having begun a relationship with this man prior to having her surgery, even though she was dressing and living as a woman at the time, and then eventually breaking the news to him. It seems that the relationship has continued after her sex reassignment, and that her partner accepts her as a woman.

Please watch the following video clip and answer the corresponding follow-up questions.

Denise Talks about her Transgender Experience

1			Like many transsexuals, Denise seems to have realized that she was transgendered quite early in her childhood. Yet, she continued to grow up physically as a male by developing secondary sex characteristics at puberty. Some activists believe that diagnostic techniques should be developed that would allow some children to begin transitioning to the other gender prior to the development of their secondary sex characteristics. Once the development of their secondary sex characteristics appears, the transition becomes much more complicated. What do you think of this proposal, and what ethical issues does it raise?
2			The fact that Denise has had a boyfriend both before and after her sex reassignment raises an interesting question: What are the qualities that we fall in love with and are attracted to in others? Should her boyfriend wonder about his own sexual orientation?
3			Would you have guessed that Denise started off as a man, or did she seem clearly a woman to you? What really makes us a man or a woman?