Psychiatry and psychology have a long and highly debated history in relation to gender. In particular, they have attracted criticism for policing the boundaries of normal gender expression through gender identity diagnoses, such as transvestism, transsexualism, gender identity disorder and gender dysphoria.

Drawing on discursive psychology, this book traces the historical development of psychiatric constructions of normal and abnormal gender expression. It contextualizes the recent reconstruction of gender in the 5th edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders...