Trans Men: Embodiments,Identities, and Sexualities

This article examines the experiences of 25 persons who were assigned female status at birth but do not wish to live as women and take on a masculine or queer gender identity. We employ the concept of “gendered embodiment” and introduce the concept of “sexualized embodiment” to highlight what is involved in this process. We ask how experiencing a masculine gender identity is reflexively tied to a trans man's sexuality and the ways in which these two embodiments are tightly, moderately, or loosely coupled. For example, a tight coupling appeared when trans men began to use testosterone and obtained surgery such as breast removal; a moderate coupling was found where gender validation was sought from a sexual partner (with this being related to sexual preference identities as well as the interpretation of vaginal penetration); the loosest coupling of the gender‐sexuality embodiments was linked to the liberality of the locale and whether “queer” identities could be easily adopted. In sum, our research demonstrates the link between gender and sexuality as a result of the body work trans men do and the historical and geographical situations in which they find themselves.     

Enactment and Dissociation: A Retrospective Journey Applying Relational Theory

Relational theory was not yet an endorsed psychoanalytic model 30 years ago. This composite case identifies a process of struggling with a classical theory education that collided with the then young analyst’s immediate clinical experience. Ambivalence about the best therapeutic course contributed to delays and enactments, and ultimately to effective interventions. This article describes the clinical growth process of the analyst progressing toward integrating aspects of what now would be mainstream relational technique. This shift was necessary to bring into open clinical discourse the dissociated self-state experiences and enactments that were paralyzing patient and analyst. The here-and-now interpersonal exchange, including identifying transference and countertransference, allows conflicts and developmental gaps to be clarified; their significance then worked to accelerate self-cohesion and self-esteem. Selective self-disclosure, authentic engagement, and self-recognition in dialogue, which would now be embraced by relational theory, are presented here as the analyst’s and the composite patient’s journey toward a core sense of self that had been sacrificed to dependence on external authority.     

Moments and efficiency of the median and trimmed mean for finite populations

Exact formulas for the expected value and variance of the median and trimmed mean are found as functions of the elements of a finite population under simple random sampling. A simulation study is performed to compare the performance of the median and trimmed mean versus the mean when sampling from various simulated finite populations. Finally, the asymptotic performance of these estimators, when sampling from infinite populations, is compared with the finite populations results.