Gender Reassignment Discussion

[Nega-Brent]

I was listening to a debate earlier today on whether or gender reassignment is a healthy medical procedure for the gender confused. One person was arguing the case that it helps those who feel like nature chose poorly become the person they feel like on the inside, while the other argued that the procedure is just sick and a perverted mutilation of a mentally unstable person's body.

Now I'm curious to see how AE members feel about this topic. So what do you think?

[auralaura]

I definately believe that people should be allowed to do whatever they want to their own bodies. If it makes them happy, who are we to criticize?

[margot]

yes, it's no problem.

[No Sad Endings]

If a person wants to do that to their body and they are willing to endure the procedure and pay for it, then that's their business, no one else's.

Whether it's healthy or not is a different matter entirely. I'm kind of dubious myself as to whether it is, but since I completely and utterly don't understand the feeling, I don't think I am in any place to deem it either a healthy or unhealthy way of dealing with the issue.

[Samurai Drifter]

If it makes them happy, then what's the issue? I think it's fine.

Agreed.

I think the only people that would have a problem would be people who are Christians and think that if someone's a certain gender it's because God made them that way.

[amy]

If it makes them happy, then what's the issue? I think it's fine.

[Poophy]

No unnecessary surgery is healthy, but from an ethical point of view, I see it as being no worse than other cosmetic surgery.

[Nega-Brent]

No unnecessary surgery is healthy, but from an ethical point of view, I see it as being no worse than other cosmetic surgery.

It's certainly a great deal more complicated than most other procedures.

[Poophy]

It's certainly a great deal more complicated than most other procedures.

how so?

[Nega-Brent]

how so?

It involves hormone therapy, cosmetic surgery on your face, liposuction, breast implants (for male-to-female), breast reduction (for female-to-male), and a complicated surgery to either invert your penis or elongate your clitoris.

[No Sad Endings]

how so?

?!?!?!

By the fact that you are changing a person's sex?! Do you know how complicated that is?!

[amy]

I think it would be healthier than the stress of having to live in the wrong body though, but maybe I'm just being romantic.

[Ceraziefish]

If a person wants to do that to their body and they are willing to endure the procedure and pay for it, then that's their business, no one else's.

Whether it's healthy or not is a different matter entirely. I'm kind of dubious myself as to whether it is, but since I completely and utterly don't understand the feeling, I don't think I am in any place to deem it either a healthy or unhealthy way of dealing with the issue.

Pretty much my exact feelings on it.

I don't want to be biased towards the transgendered, but the fact is that I am, a little bit. I know I shouldn't be :/

[Samurai Drifter]

I think it would be healthier than the stress of having to live in the wrong body though, but maybe I'm just being romantic.

There is no "right" or "wrong" body though. People just are what they are. If they want to change that, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But saying "I was born as the wrong gender!" is bullshit. There is no right or wrong gender.

[amy]

There is no "right" or "wrong" body though. People just are what they are. If they want to change that, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But saying "I was born as the wrong gender!" is bullshit. There is no right or wrong gender.

What if you were born with hundreds of nipples all over your body?

[Samurai Drifter]

Then you're just a freak.

[amy]

But it's how you are!

I think for that girl, the thought of growing a beard and having a deep voice would have been as gross and strange as having hundreds of nipples. It would be to her innately "wrong".

[margot]

Then SD you think there's no difference between the genders?

[Gundampilotspaz]

There is no "right" or "wrong" body though. People just are what they are. If they want to change that, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But saying "I was born as the wrong gender!" is bullshit. There is no right or wrong gender.

Perspective creates the feeling of right and wrong.

I feel as if I'm in the "Right" gender. Why? Because I have no desire to change it. If the choice to change it wasn't available, this thought wouldn't even come into my head.

[Samurai Drifter]

Then SD you think there's no difference between the genders?

No...

I'm saying the idea that one was "put" into the wrong body, or that one has the "soul of a woman/man" is stupid.

GPS' answer was acceptable.

[Nega-Brent]

Perspective creates the feeling of right and wrong.

I feel as if I'm in the "Right" gender. Why? Because I have no desire to change it. If the choice to change it wasn't available, this thought wouldn't even come into my head.

But the choice to change was made available and created because people felt that way before the procedure existed.

[James_xeno]

While I'm not a really comfortable with cosmetic surgery for reasons other then its truest definition. (To fix an irregularity, or defect.) I don't have a problem with adults who wish to do it. As long as he or she pays for everything. But a 12 year old is a different story! Doing it not to fix a horrible defect or something like that.. And only a sex masking operation no less... Definitely not! I mean what happens when he turns 17, 18 or so and is just about finished growing, and starts to rethink the idea, or even decides that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. What then? Well knowing those of the like which put him up to this, probably chastise him for "trying to be something that he's not."

I've always found the idea of masking ones sex to be rather silly. I mean to try and change, pretend that they're something that they are most obviously not, to the point of mutilation. It sounds kind of demented to me.

[DreamerGirl]

Ever wondered why people feel the need to go through with this though?

I'm completely ignorant as to why someone would feel they were "born the wrong gender."

I mean, if you're a tomboy, that's fine. Same with if you are a feminine male.

In fact, I can't help but wonder if the sex you were born wouldn't be such an issue if there weren't so many gender stereotypes in the world.

It's kinda like someone is saying, "I like cars so I should be a boy" or "I like dolls so I should be a girl."

It just seems stupid to me that they divide the genders so much in their minds. It's not male vs female in my mind. It's just you, and who you are.

[LeadingMan]

While I'm not a really comfortable with cosmetic surgery for reasons other then its truest definition. (To fix an irregularity, or defect.) I don't have a problem with adults who wish to do it. As long as he or she pays for everything. But a 12 year old is a different story! Doing it not to fix a horrible defect or something like that.. And only a sex masking operation no less... Definitely not! I mean what happens when he turns 17, 18 or so and is just about finished growing, and starts to rethink the idea, or even decides that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. What then? Well knowing those of the like which put him up to this, probably chastise him for "trying to be something that he's not."

I've always found the idea of masking ones sex to be rather silly. I mean to try and change, pretend that they're something that they are most obviously not, to the point of mutilation. It sounds kind of demented to me.

Most transgendered men and women know they're transgendered at a young age. It is actually very common for male to female transgendered women to begin transitioning at 12-14. In fact many begin by illegally purchasing female hormones for their "mothers." It is actually very uncommon (from the evidence I've seen) for someone to be so incredibly motivated that they would resort to an illegal means to reassign their gender to randomly one day decide that they "messed up" and actually wanted to be their original gender. Logic states this person wouldn't even bother.

Gender disassociation is generally readily apparent, and you know if you're in the wrong gender. Much like a gay person knows they're attracted to men, albiet many on a subconcious level at first. You don't "become" gay or "become" transgendered you simply are or are not.

Especially considering it's not a life many would choose willingly. The rate of murder against transwomen is staggering due to intolerance and an overall lack of understanding. Our country is slowly building to a very large gender shock where the traditional concepts of male and female and their respective roles in the dogmatic christian society the west has built over centuries are challenged and re-written.

[Samurai Drifter]

Gender disassociation is generally readily apparent, and you know if you're in the wrong gender. Much like a gay person knows they're attracted to men, albiet many on a subconcious level at first. You don't "become" gay or "become" transgendered you simply are or are not.

It's a psychological condition, you're not "in the wrong gender." That implies that you're more than just a biological machine.