Wal Torres

Wal Torres (São Paulo, 1950) is a Brazilian gender therapist and sexologist.

Biography
For many years, Wal Torres (who was born male) worked as a consultant in the petrochemical and fertilizing industries, where he had a successful life nationally and internationally. Despite this he soon realized that he should accept his gender dysphoria as a male to female transsexual (MtF) and seek happiness. This discovery drastically changed Torres' life, both physiologically and psychologically. Torres' gender transition started in 1993 and took many years.

A graduate of the University of São Paulo Politechnic School (USP) in Engineering, Torres also has a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the PUC (Pontifícia Universidade Católica), among other related qualifications. Master in Sexology from the University Gama Filho, Rio de Janeiro, for which she presented a dissertation titled "Gênero, do Mito à Realidade" (“Gender: from Myth to Reality”) in 2002, and graduated Cum Laude.

In 1995 she decided to study gender dysphoria disorders in the Faculdade Federal de Medicina de São Paulo. From this period of studies she published a book: Meu Sexo Real (“My Real Sex”), under the pseudonym of Martha Freitas (Vozes Edition, 1998). This book was subsequently sent by its editor to the Frankfurt Book Fair of 1998 and was soon recognized as an authoritative book about the gender subject by Dr. Günter Dörner, of the Endocrinology Department at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Today, Torres is nationally and internationally respected as one of the most prominent authorities in gender dysphoria disorders, and thus is a contributing member of the WPATH – World Professional Association for Transgender Health (formerly HBIGDA - Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association). She also serves on the Board of the OII – Organisation Intersex International, which represents specialists from all over the world (doctors, psychologists, sexologists, social assistants etc.) which has the aim to establish protocols and interchange experiences in the evaluation and treatment of people suffering from gender dysphoria disorders.