AIM AND PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

The aim and purpose of this book is to make a contribution to the ongoing scholarly and political debates concerning the legal status of transsexual and transgender persons, both inside and outside of potential legislative reform processes. It is also intended as an aid to judicial and administrative decisions. That said, there of course already has been much – and often very fruitful – debate, and many leading academics, as well as transgender advocates (several of whom now contribute to this collection), have made tremendous contributions to this field. But so far, in terms of legal academic as opposed to policy-centred writing, a major comparative legal survey, particularly one which takes into account the most recent developments away from medicalisation and pathologisation towards self-determination, appeared to be missing, and it is this gap that the book hopes to fill. In doing so, there are not only ‘legal’ reports but also contributions from a medical/psychological and theological viewpoint. Law does not operate in a legal vacuum, and thus these additional chapters hopefully provide meaningful reference points for the legal debate.

The target audience for this book is not necessarily only specialists with previous in-depth knowledge in the field, but also in particular those who have not yet engaged in greater depth with the issues surrounding the legal status of transsexual and transgender persons. The book therefore offers a comparative basis to evaluate developments, existing legal rules and reform proposals.

TERMINOLOGY

One of the major difficulties this research/book project has faced was the question of appropriate terminology. The precise wording and terms used in debates surrounding gender identity often reflect the intensely personal views and feelings of the persons concerned, and often are an area of very intense disagreement. This is also reflected in the contributions in this volume; while the editor made suggestions as to which terminology he thought ought to be used (on which see below), the authors were of course free to decide which terminology they wanted to adopt. In many cases, the authors have decided to invoke the terminology which is currently being used in national debates, despite the fact that this terminology may be, at best, imprecise and, at worst, hurtful and insulting to transsexual or transgender individuals.