David Oliver Cauldwell (June 17, 1897 – August 30, 1959) was a prolific and pioneering

sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

, who coined the term transsexual as used in its current definition. Many of his monographs on sex, psychology, or health were published by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius in such forms as

Big Blue Book Big Blue Books are a series of small staple-bound books published from 1925 to 1950 by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company of Girard, Kansas (1919–1978), larger than the Little Blue Books. The series included both reprints and first publica ...

s. He was the editor of Sexology magazine's question and answer department. Cauldwell and Harry Benjamin were "two early and important American voices on transsexuality".

Biography

He was born on June 17, 1897 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

to Gilbert Cauldwell, a surgeon; and Virginia Oliver-Wright. Cauldwell reports himself as having had an interest in sexual anatomy since his childhood. He studied medicine at the Chester College of Medicine and Surgery (later merged with

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

) and at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. After several years as a private general practitioner, Cauldwell became an Associate Medical Officer of the

Department of War War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

, and as a contract

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

for the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, and became a neuro-

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

for the Department of War. In 1945, Cauldwell ended active practice to become a writer on topics of health, notably sexology. In 1949 he used the term transsexual in his essay ''Psychopathia Transexualis'' to describe individuals whose sex assigned at birth was different from their

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

.The German term "transsexualismus" was introduced by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923, Cauldwell appears to be the first to use the term for those who desired a change of physiological sex. Compare ''Die intersexuelle Konstitution'' in ''Jahrbuch fuer sexuelle Zwischenstufen'' by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923 versus ''Psychopathia Transexualis'' by David Oliver Cauldwell in 1949. Cauldwell distinguished “biological sex” from “psychological sex”, and saw the latter as determined by social conditioning. He denied that there were modes of thinking intrinsically linked to male or female biology. Primarily because of this view of ''gender'' as plastic, and secondarily because of the limitations of medical science, he regarded sex reassignment surgery as an unacceptable response to transsexualism, and instead advocated that it be treated as a mental disorder. He advocated acceptance of homosexuality and of transvestism. He died on August 30, 1959 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

of cirrhosis of the liver. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso, Texas.Death certificate for David Oliver Cauldwell

References

Works

'' /nowiki>The titles of the Haldeman-Julius publications were chosen by or at the insistence of Haldeman-Julius, to provoke sales./nowiki>'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cauldwell, David Oliver American sexologists 1897 births 1959 deaths Deaths from cirrhosis Transgender studies academics

Biography

References

Further reading

Works