Dutch speaking transsexual women, 1990

[I. ter Haar]

SEVENTEEN DUTCH TRANSSEXUAL WOMEN AND THEIR STEREOTYPING IN COMPARISON
WITH 48 DUTCH PART-TIME PSYCHOLOGY UNDERGRADUATES DURING '89-'90.

It was assumed, in accordance with Lothstein's theory about the
ontology of female transsexualism that the parents of a transsexual
woman encourage the stereotype male characteristics and discourage the
stereotype female characteristics.
Consequently she would view herself as masculine rather than feminine.
Also it was intuitively felt, because a transsexual woman asserts that
she is a man, that she views 'the man' as an authority and conforms to
this authority.

The Groninger Androgyne Scale (GRAS), which is derived from the Bem
Sex Role Inventory and is adjusted to the Dutch situation, is used for
testing the first hypothesis.
The second hypothesis was tested with the Adorno Authoritarian (F)
scale and with the Marlowe & Crowne Social-Desirability Scale.

The results have not confirmed the first hypothesis, but a careful
suggestion may be that the perceived upbringing by these transsexual
women's parents do not differ much from the perceived upbringing by
the parents of the part-time female psychology undergraduates, with
respect to the stereotype feminine and masculine characteristics, as
measured by the GRAS-items. Furthermore it seems, in the perception of
these transsexual women, that their parents have not differentiated
their stereotype masculine and feminine characteristics.
Thirdly there is some support for the second hypothesis, namely, a
transsexual
woman would to a greater extent obey an authority and to a greater
degree endorse a prevailing opinion than the control-group of female
and male part-time psychology undergraduates.
Then it is asserted that the transsexual women in this study are more
stereotype-oriented than the control-group.