Harry Benjamin

From Susan's Place Transgender Wiki

This article is either incomplete or a placeholder. You can help Susan's Place Transgender Wiki by expanding it.
Please read the site rules first.

Harry Benjamin (1885-1986) was a German-born psychologist. He is best known for his pioneering work with transsexualism.

He was born in Berlin, and was in the United States when the First World War broke out in 1914. He was then sent to an internment camp, as an 'enemy alien', until he agreed not to leave the country.

He started his private medical practice in New York in 1915 (starting in the forties, he also practiced in San Francisco during the summer months, thus, for many years, establishing a bi-coastal professional presence), and came to settle there.

His special interest was hormonal research, and thus he became a disciple of Eugen Steinach, whom he visited in Vienna every summer through the twenties and early thirties. On these occasions, he also took frequent side trips to Berlin, where he visited both Magnus Hirschfeld and Albert Moll and also participated in their congresses. He also knew Alfred Kinsey quite well and, through him, became acquainted with a young patient who was anatomically male, but insisted that he was really female. This led to Benjamin's interest in what he himself later described as "transsexualism".

His 1966 book, The Transsexual Phenomenon, brought the issue into the mainstream, and led to a great many people coming forward.

Apart from his gender work, he was a gerontologist and worked on life extension.

In his long and distinguished career, Benjamin came to know many famous American and European scientists, scholars, and artists. From his earliest youth, he was also an ardent opera lover (the legendary soprano Maria Jeritza was a patient and close friend). He always retained a great love for his native Berlin and hoped that it would, once again, become a center of sexology.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

The Transsexual Phenomenon online at the International Journal of Transgenderism

[edit] Discuss

Readers may use this email link to report errors and/or omissions they have discovered, or to add additional material or comments regarding this article "Harry Benjamin"
Wiki Staff should discuss this article in the Wiki Staff Forum
Susan's Place Transgender Resources Forums
Susan's Place Transgender Chat

Browse: All | CD | IS | TG | TS | HRT | GRS | Gender | Standards of Care
Psychology | Transitioning | Family&Friends | People | Books | Abbreviations