Journal of Sociology

Sex-reassignment surgery is a technique used to alter the genital structure of an individual so that their genitals more closely resemble the genitals of persons of the opposite sex. It is a surgical operation used for individuals who are born with an ambiguous genital structure, and it is used for adult persons who wish to change their genital sex (transsexuals). This paper will focus on the latter situation¹. 'Operations on transsexuals have been performed in Australia since the late 1950s though, according to Giles, the earliest recorded case of surgery in the world may have been 1930 in Weimar Germany at Dresden (1989, 292).

In a range of modern literature on human sexuality, 'sexual dysfunctions' are largely taken for granted as self-evident physiological impairments of normal sexual functioning. This conceptualisation increases the likelihood they will be subsumed (or remain within) the jurisdiction of sexologists. The central argument of this paper is that sexual dysfunctions are not self-evident disorders discovered through the value-neutral methods of scientific sexology but are socially constructed as problems with reference to hegemonic masculine standards and patterns of normal sexual functioning and interaction. In this account, sexology operates as an institution of social control which in promoting conformity to such standards contributes to the perpetuation of social inequality.¹

This analysis of women and workers' compensation law employs the concept of 'uneven' development to explain legislative change. The article challenges notions of progress and argues that law develops unevenly in the context of social, economic and political conditions. After examining changes to South Australian workers' compensation legislation over the last century it considers recent developments that broaden the primary focus of the law from the injured workers' economic well-being to include notions of rehabilitation and future employment. At this point the article considers the divergence between law as legislation and law in practice. Presently in law most women experience the availability of workers' compensation as a condition of employment, however, scope exists for medical practitioners, rehabilitation administrators, and trade unionists to reject women's claims.

This paper takes as its starting point the twin challenges to traditional patterns of state welfare that have emerged in recent years. At the practical level, it is increasingly difficult to reconcile demands for improved services with available resources and acceptable tax rates. At the theoretical level, a range of approaches loosely associated with the postmodern revolution in social thought suggest that bureaucratic state- regulated services are no longer appropriate to an increasingly diverse and fragmented society. In this context managerial changes that emphasise the role of the consumer and approaches to benefit administration that stress individual responsibility have emerged. The paper draws on Giddens' analysis of 'high modernity' to argue that such solutions may involve the extension rather than the fragmentation of central government power.