Gender Disorders and the Paraphilias

Gender Disorders and the Paraphilias

William B. Arndt

Madison, CT: International Universities Press, Inc., 488 pp, 1991

This is a carefully written book which I found interesting, particularly since the history behind a variety of sexual disorders is very well summarized, including the work by Kraft-Ebbing. This is blended with current scientific research findings, providing information on both the gender disorders and the paraphilias in a single source, thereby saving a large amount of reading. The author goes beyond that, in that he covers the history and other important aspects of the sexual disorders as they relate to endocrinology, psychiatry, forensic medicine and forensic psychiatry, as well as psychology and sociology. It covers all the psychosexual disorders in terms of the DSM-III-R. I was particularly impressed with the coverage of transsexualism, transvestism, sex, gender and sexuality, which was well-summarized by Arant. In his second chapter, “Sex Gender and Sexuality,” biological sex issues were very well covered, as were issues of gender identity role. I felt that Chapter 5, “Trans-Sexual-ism,” was also very strong, dealing with the differences between transsexualism and transvestism as well as issues of sexual orientation as they affect transvestism.

The book deals with paraphilias in a similarly comprehensive fashion, with chapters on fetishism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, father-daughter incest, sadism and masochism. These chapters are full of information and are easy reading.

The author has gone to a great deal of trouble to write this book in a style that is easy to read, clear and logical, and at the same time convey considerable amounts of information. This is a book that the general psychiatrist should read, particularly in this era when it is important to be aware of psychosexual disorders and their consequences. If there was weak point to this book, I would say that the treatment of the paraphilias was dealt with lightly, but if one looks at the overall context of the book, this is most likely appropriate, given the author’s approach.

This book is a worthwhile addition to the general psychiatrist’s library as a reference text for dealing with psychosexual disorders and gender disorders.