PRESS RELEASE


January 31, 1995



Center for Sex Research Will Hold Congress
on Transvestism and Transsexual Issues in February


	Transvestism and transsexual issues will be topics of international conference sponsored by Cal State Northridge's Center on Sex Research February 24 through 26.
	The "International Congress on Gender, Cross-dressing and Sex Issues" will include academics, those who work with transvestites and transsexuals, and people who are themselves transvestites and transsexuals.
	The conference at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys will feature more than 90 presentations ranging from psychological studies (for instance, comparing transvestite and non-transvestite heterosexual males) to health insurance for the transgendered. About 250 people are expected to participate in the conference.
	Professor Richard Docter, chair of Cal State Northridge's Psychology Department, will attempt to define the essential traits of people who are severely discontent with their gender. Professor Emeritus Vern L. Bullough will present with his wife, Bonnie, a description of 350 male cross-dressers.
	The congress will present an award to Dr. Stanley Biber, who has performed more male-to-female surgeries -- more than 10,000 operations -- than anyone else in the world.
	One issue under discussion will be standards for transsexual surgery. Some people call the present standards too rigid because they require psychological pre-testing to determine suitability for the operation.

(more)
Sex Research Congress
Page 2


	"People in the community want some standards, but they want a greater say in them," Bullough said. "The question is how much psychological evaluation is needed."
	The conference is the most recent project of the Center for Sex Research. Founded in the early 1970s, the center is a loose confederation of faculty members, most of them in the university's School of Social and Behavioral Science. James Elias is the director.


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Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler, Director of News and Information,
(818) 885-2130.