In 1966, Harry Benjamin published The Transsexual Phenomenon, one of the first works to address transness (Benjamin used the word “transsexualism”) as something other than a pathological mental disorder. Compared to modern queer theory this book got a lotttt of things wrong, but in 1966 it was a huge deal and it became the gold standard for medical professionals working with transgender patients. In The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto, Sandy Stone discusses the effect the textbook had on transgender medical care:

“And when the first transsexuals were evaluated for their suitability for surgery, their behavior matched up gratifyingly with Benjamin’s criteria. The researchers produced papers which reported on this, and which were used as bases for funding. It took a surprisingly long time–several years–for the researchers to realize that the reason the candidates’ behavioral profiles matched Benjamin’s so well was that the candidates, too, had read Benjamin’s book, which was passed from hand to hand within the transsexual community, and they were only too happy to provide the behavior that led to acceptance for surgery.”