特别广播英语第 419 课：Transvaluing Transsexuality 江山易改，本性能移-1

Transsexuality is an interesting, if baffling, subject for most people. 变性欲，对多数人而言，即使难以理解，但也仍是一个感兴趣的话题。

It is often confused with transvestitism, even though the two are distinctly different. 变性欲与易装癖常被混淆，尽管两者截然不同。

Transvestites feel a compulsion to dress in clothing that is considered appropriate to the other sex, while still feeling comfortable with their given sex. 异装癖者会感到一种内心的冲动驱使他（她）们去穿那些更适合异性穿着的服饰而仍对他们固有的性别感到满意.

Transsexuals, on the other hand, feel a strong dissonance between their sex---their physical selves, and their gender---their identity in society. 变性欲者则会对他们的性(别)──自己的身体及性别──社会身份，感到非常不协调。

Basically, they feel as if they are trapped in a body of the wrong sex. 基本上，他们觉得自己陷进了错误性别的躯体中。

This condition, called gender dysphoria, is not merely a disposition, but an unsuppressable urge. 这种情况被称为性别焦虑的状态，不仅仅是一种意向，更是一种无法抑制的冲动。

Along with their discomfort with their own bodies, transsexuals must contend with stigma, shame, and sometimes violence, in an unaccepting society. 变性欲者除了对自己的身体感到厌恶，他们身处不能接纳他们的社会，还要对抗污名、羞辱，甚至暴力。

Difficulties that transsexuals face are so great, in fact, that 50 percent of them die before the age of 30---the vast majority from suicide. 变性欲者面临着重重困难，以至于他们中百分之五十的人事实上都活不到30岁──大部分人都自杀了。