The wife of a biologically male transsexual explains how she helped her gender dysphoric spouse look beyond the simplistic slogans offered by online activists.
By Stephanie Hayton
Category: Transsexual Apostate
This piece is an extract from my book, Transsexual Apostate published by Spiked
What drives a man to want to become a woman? To answer this question, it’s worth looking back to the work of American-Canadian sexologist Ray Blanchard. In the 1980s, while working at the Toronto Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, he developed a somewhat controversial taxonomy of male-to-female transsexualism (1). He described one group simply as ‘homosexual transsexuals’ (HSTS). But it is his second group that interests me personally, because it encompasses my own experience as a male-to-female transsexual. A group needs a name – where would the transgender world be without labels? – and, in 1989, Blanchard coined the term ‘autogynephilia’ (2).
As the Church of England once again tears itself apart over gay marriage, us transsexual Christians have slipped in under the radar. It’s been 24 years since the first transgender CofE priest, Carol Stone, returned to work in Swindon after gender reassignment surgery. Even in 2000, Stone’s parishioners weren’t that bothered about their ‘new’ vicar. I’ve also found my fellow Christians to be mostly welcoming – but that doesn’t mean being a trans Christian is without its dilemmas.
This piece was written in response to an exchange in Parliament; it draws upon ideas that I developed in my book, Transsexual Apostate.
The transgender row isn’t going away. Prime Minister’s Questions this week was dominated by a jibe Rishi Sunak made about Keir Starmer’s stance on gender. The Labour leader then lashed out at Sunak for criticising him on the topic while the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey was in the Commons.
In 2012 Stephanie Hayton’s husband transitioned; they stayed together as a couple. Here she explains why their voices need to be heard
By Stephanie Hayton
This is the fourth and final of four extracts from my book, Transsexual Apostate published by the Daily Mail
The fashion for declaring your preferred pronoun is now so ubiquitous that it is difficult to be a conscientious objector.
On the surface, bowing to someone’s wish to be called ‘he’ or ‘she’ or ‘they’ is surely no more than a kind and thoughtful gesture that respects other people’s situations. And perfectly harmless. Except that it isn’t harmless. It transfers power. No longer do any of us have the freedom to perceive which sex-based pronouns best describe the human being standing in front of us: we are now expected to read the label and follow the instructions. Or else.
This is the third of four extracts from my book, Transsexual Apostate published by the Daily Mail
You may think that changing your sexual identity should be an issue of concern solely to people like me. Though middle-aged and married with three children, after decades as a secret transvestite I came out and transitioned from a man to a woman, first socially by cross-dressing and changing my name from David to Debbie, then physically by subjecting myself to the extreme surgery of having my genitalia sliced and diced and reconfigured.
This is the second of four extracts from my book, Transsexual Apostate published by the Daily Mail
As my thinking developed, the trans people I knew became more and more distant, particularly after I began to put my thoughts in print through pieces of journalism.
This is the first of four extracts from my book, Transsexual Apostate published by the Daily Mail
Are you sure you want to do this?’ the anaesthetist at Charing Cross Hospital asked as I lay on the trolley ready for theatre, giving me one last chance to back out.
Transsexual Apostate was serialised by The Daily Mail in two extracts, published on Saturday 27 January 2024 and Sunday 28 January 2024. Following that, the paper published an exclusive interview by Frances Hardy.
Debbie Hayton 