Psychologist George Brown, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a former member of the Department of Veterans Affairs has written a new research paper as a followup to his 1988 study of men who enter the military either who are effeminate or have gender identity disorder to “man up” and often take some of the most dangerous assignments or military roles available.
The 1988 study involved only 11 individuals, three who had not been in the military and eight of who were veterans, Department of Defense employees, or service members at the time.
At the time of the first study Brown said, ”Surely, a male who is gender dysphoric and engages in cross-gender activities and possibly sexual activity with other males would not voluntarily submit himself to a system known for its staunch intolerance of deviancy in any form, whether it be homosexuality, long hair, or wrinkled uniforms.”
All of the individuals in that study were requesting hormones or sexual reassignment surgery. His new research involves over 5 million veterans and concludes that those entering the military are twice as likely as their civilian counterparts to identity as transgender, male to female.
Aaron Belkin, director of UCLA’s Palm Center, an institute for studying the military’s sexual minorities, believes that Brown’s research, which includes the idea that transgender service members volunteer for the more dangerous missions, is “path-breaking.”
“Warrior identity and military masculinity are so revered in this society that people will do whatever it takes, including dying, for people to prove that they are ‘real men,’” Belkin told Courthouse News. “The fact that many [male-to-female] transgender individuals join the military to prove that they are ‘real men’ is a sad testament to the culture’s idealization of warrior masculinity.”
Of course even with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, transgenders “are not allowed to serve” although history has shown us otherwise as early as the Civil War if not the Revolutionary War. During those wars it was a female posing as a male to enter into military service to serve their Country or respective “side” as in the Civil War. Some carried on the F to M identity after their military service.
What if anything this research will do to the current policy of who can or not be in the military and the backlash against transgenders and transsexuals remains to be seen. But you can bet Conservatives and those with anti-gay views will make full use of the research and even go so far as to point out the sorry state of affairs the US military has become as a “social hookup for deviants” as DADT has been discontinued.
Brown’s new research will be presented this fall in San Francisco.
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