The illness model

The trans condition as illness can appeal  to some people who greatly suffer under the difficulties stemming from being born that way. The more you rejected yourself, the more apt you might be to fall for pseudoscience. I know I almost did early on.

Here I am not speaking of gender dysphoria and the disconnect between birth sex and gender identity which, if not adequately treated, can be very painful. I am more talking about crank theories which seek to pathologize behaviour as if it were rooted in mental illness.

Even some people who call themselves "crossdressers" would suffer enormously and early blogs I read were often about finding ways to cure their affliction. They had created a feed and starve cycle which included purging (which many transsexuals also experience) and suffered more than they need have. The solution of well timed cross gender expression would have eliminated the angst and normalized everything into stability. With very little justification, societal disapproval had turned their lives into convoluted messes.

Even today some transsexuals still espouse the Blanchard pseudoscience which has been handily debunked proving how much internalized guilt can be very tenacious. Once we have established a psychological block, it is very hard to eliminate it.

I am still sorting out many loose threads from years of fighting my own nature which shows just how much work is sometimes involved in cleaning house.