sex reassignment


sex reassignment

a process whereby the sex of a patient is changed by a combination of psychiatric, psychological, pharmacologic, and surgical procedures, usually as a part of the treatment of hermaphroditism or transsexualism. Synonym(s): sex reversal

sex re·ver·sal

, sex reassignment (seks rĕ-vĕr'săl, rē'ă-sīn'mĕnt) A process whereby the sexual identity of a person is changed from one sex to the other (e.g., by a combination of surgical, pharmacologic, and psychiatric procedures); it may also occur in the life history of a pseudohermaphroditic individual whose sex at birth was uncertain; initially reared as members of one gender or sex role, such people may, on subsequent medical examination and advice, be reared thereafter as members of the opposite gender or sex role.

sexual reassignment

, sex reassignmentThe legal, surgical, or social action or decision to assign the appropriate sexuality to a person previously considered to be of the opposite (or of ambiguous) sex.