Harry Benjamin
German endocrinologist and sexologistWikipedia
34
MENTIONS
4
EPISODES
3
PODCASTS
Search complete. 34 mentions across 4 episodes found for "Harry Benjamin".
Oct 13, 2026
Nicola HumeHOST
but I think, yeah, if you are any, any taller than that-
MikeHOST
I'm in the kind of Harry Benjamin league of-
Nicola HumeHOST
... especially if you've got a long torso
MikeHOST
... yeah, exactly.
5 MINS LATER
Ginny BuckleyHOST
Okay.
Nicola HumeHOST
I love the 2CV so much, the original 2CV.
Nicola HumeHOST
I did, like, a massive road trip with Harry Benjamin, actually.
Nicola HumeHOST
We did a massive road trip down to Le Mans in, uh, these old 2CVs.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
It's in his memoir.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
Benjamin, Harry Benjamin actually said it to him that indeed, Christine, without you, probably none of this would have happened.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
And so even Harry Benjamin, who is the grandfather of this medical scandal, I would say, credits Christine with everything.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
And it's because...
Stella O'MalleyHOST
Before that, yes, there were stories.
9 MINS LATER
Stella O'MalleyHOST
But the very moment that they learn in the culture that this surgery is possible, the fantasy becomes a fixation.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
And that's the only thing that they can think about.
Stella O'MalleyHOST
And you will see that time and time again, even in Harry Benjamin's writing, even in all of the writing of the time, they're all saying, wow, these individuals, the moment they learn that this surgery is possible, that is all they can think about.
Mia HughesHOST
What's amazing is when they all got together in Houston, Texas in the early 1990s, they were able to form a legal framework which embedded this belief that they hold about themselves into a human rights movement, into a civil rights movement.
Mia HughesHOST
And then the crucial pivotal win that they had is they then entered HBIGDA, which is the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which was destined to become WPATH just a few years later.
Mia HughesHOST
they get that idea inside WPath.
Mia HughesHOST
Now, I blame WPath, and that shouldn't surprise anyone.
28 MINS LATER
Mia HughesHOST
It's causing her distress.
Mia HughesHOST
There is some kind of suicide note, but not a suicide attempt, just a kind of, you know, very adolescent angst suicide note and the mother finds it.
Mia HughesHOST
The aunt had just read Harry Benjamin's Transsexual Phenomenon and had in her mind that some people are trans.
Mia HughesHOST
And then put that idea to the mother.
speaker_1HOST
Right.
speaker_1HOST
This is where we get into John Money, Harry Benjamin and Robert Stoller.
Manaan KarrayHOST
Let's break their models down because their fingerprints are all over the current diagnostic criteria you use today.
Manaan KarrayHOST
Let's start with John Money.
Manaan KarrayHOST
So money is planning his flag firmly in the nurture camp.
Manaan KarrayHOST
The environment programs, the identity.
Manaan KarrayHOST
But then you have Harry Benjamin, an endocrinologist who comes at this from a completely biological standpoint.
speaker_1HOST
Yes.