Rhaedas

I think both are being done...to try and find out why the unusual situation occurred, and correct what has already occurred.

Or should the person with the conflicting biology just deal with it?

What I do find immoral is how many times in the past the doctor decides which is correct during early childhood, and takes action, later found to be the wrong one. Whatever changes may be done should be up to that person alone...only they can resolve what feels right to them.

Jamie_L

The thing is, if the physical rearrangement does achieve internal harmony, why is that worse than a mental rearrangement to achieve internal harmony. Certainly the medical community is obligated to try and make sure that such a major physical rearrangement will in fact achieve internal harmony - i.e. that the patient doesn't have a psychological problem that will continue to manifest itself after the sex change. But if the psychology is such that the operation will make this individual happy, and the individual prefers that route to a psychological treatment for happiness, what is wrong with that?

Turning your question above back around: is it morally wrong to get a face lift? If the physical operation will bring happiness, is it somehow wrong when compared to making a mental adjustment to be happy with your current appearance? Is it morally wrong to get breast implants? To color your hair?

We have a case of mental dissatisfaction with physical condition. Possible solutions: attain mental satisfaction with physical condition OR alter physical condition to achieve mental satisfaction. What makes one option better or worse, more or less moral, than the other? And why isn't it just a matter of personal preference?

Jamie

beth

Yguy, it takes a long period of time to carry out gender reassighment. During this time, the transgender patient undergoes extensive psychological evaluation and counseling. This is to help a person from making a mistake about there. It is something that might help to restore and bring peace and harmony to the life of one that feels that they should be of the opposite sex. I think that it is more serious than plastic surgury and helps to fix the root cause of unhappiness, unlike plastic surgery than can only mask the cause.

beth

The name of the article is hateful and really pisses me off. It simply sickens me that a person could dub a transgender person as a monster when they have done nothing to deserve it.

yguy

You can do better than that, Bree. Way better.

I probably wouldn't, but it's apples and oranges, since most transsexuals' gender confusion is entirely psychological, is it not?

jj

It's pretty bizzare that they put a shot of Frank n Furter to lead the article.

That's something different

yguy

Because the "mental rearrangement" is more reversible than the physical modifications.

BTW, if by "mental rearrangement" you are thinking along the lines of such therapy as espoused by NARTH, I'm not necessarily a fan of it.

I can't get my mind around the idea that anyone, having been born a man, could be happy as a woman, or vice versa. I doubt that it can really happen.

It may be, depending on why you do it. I'd say women who get breast implants are making themselves attractive to men who look at them as sex objects rather than people, setting themselves up to be used. As for face-lifts, I think they are a way for people to deny the fact they are dying.

Maybe neither option is acceptable. Maybe the only option that makes sense is to find out why the dissatisfaction exists.

There are people who were born with missing limbs who are completely happy with their lives. How come a person with a normal body is so dissatisfied?

If by this you mean any mistake they make will only be hurting themselves, I can't go along with that entirely. I think most are naturally squeamish being around such people - not because they are intolerant, but because they know intuitively that something is wrong.

Hedwig

yguy, if you'd like I could try to track down some transgendered people and organizations I've gotten to meet over the years as a GLBT rights activist. I'm sure they could give you some keen insights as to why they felt the need to go through something that time consuming (a man or a woman considering the surgery must live for no less than a period of one year as a member of the opposite sex), expensive, emotionally draining, and most likely causing the alienation of parents, spouses, children, etc.

Just say the word and I'll happily send off a few emails and see what I can find.

catmar

It's that kind of logic (or any logic, really) that drives people out of the church instead of into it.

catmar

Just because you can't get your mind around it, doesn't mean everyone else can't either. Besides, this is a personal thing - as long as the person is happy, it is no one else's business. It will affect other people only if they let it.