Splitting: A Case of Female Masculinity

by Robert J. Stoller, Ethel Spector Person (Foreword by)

This classic book is a detailed case study of a woman, otherwise intelligent and apparently sane, who was convinced that she had internally a full set of functioning male sex organs. Dr. Robert Stoller's account of this woman's diagnosis and treatment is illustrated by excerpts from the patient-analyst dialogue during her therapy, providing enough detail to be useful to clinicians in training. Originally published in hardcover in 1973, the book is now available in paperback for the first time.

Genres: Psychology

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and fully descript study. However, I do not feel that it touches upon transgenderism or transsexualism as much as it does psychosis and psychopathy.

[That Kanpuria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave an extra star just to appreciate the kind of effort that Stoller put into working with Mrs G. 12 years of therapy, with multiple hospitalizations.

A single long caste study distilled from years of sessions. This book and the kind of relationship Stoller develops with Mrs G. is no mean feat.

One may disagree with Stoller's therapy frames. One may find fault with him for the eccentricity of the endeavour. Or even sometimes the reductionist remarks.

Running through pages and pages of back and forth between Stoller and Mrs. G, the exhaustive paraphrasing of the progress Mrs G. made under therapy, warranted from me a peculiar sort of ambivalence towards Mrs G. I felt both disgust and pity, regard and disdain towards her.

Usually by the age of 22-23 most middle class adults are trying to find their bearing in college. Mrs G. from 13-22 years had executed armed robberies, had 5 pregnancies, was mothering two children, had married 5 times, had won racing circuits beating men, had run her vehicle over people into embankments and walls, had tried amphetamines and heroine and morphine and benzedrine and acid, and gotten rid of imaginary friends, shot an abusive criminal using a stolen firearm to protect her son, overcame multiple psychotic breakdowns, overcame hallucinations and voices in her head, had made love to hundreds of men and women.

It was no fluke that Stoller was interested in Mrs. G.

This is a great book about therapy. What makes it greater is that Stoller realizes how psychoanalytic jargon does disservice to such narratives. So he has completely stripped the prose down.

Not only analysts and queers will find this book interesting, but also novelists, writers, social workers, in that it is an enduring example of a character study.

PS: I don't think the cover does justice to the contents of the book. It seems to be packaged as a boring purely academic work. That it is not. It is a lot more.