Do you believe there should be minimum age requirements for transitioning?
No.
Okay, let me rephrase that. Usually when people say transition in this context, they mean medical transition. Age requirements for medical transition are already in place (though HRT’s requirement could be lowered to 14, rather than its current 16). There’s also social transition, which involves things like changing name, changing what pronouns you’re referred to, etc. That doesn’t need an age requirement.
What are your feelings with regards to the concept of researching the psychology behind an individual’s desire to transition? Would you prefer a greater, or lesser, amount of such research be conducted?
It is what it is. As long as it includes actually talking to us and our experiences, then it’s not really a major concern, unless it becomes used as a means of gatekeeping who’s “really” trans.
What might you consider your views to be as to the benefits of requiring individuals undergo psychiatric evaluations prior to transitioning? Is this discriminatory or rather a measure in prudent caution?
Discriminatory. I mean, it’s useful for those who aren’t sure, but when you’re confident that it’s the right course of action, it becomes a game of jumping through hoops to prove that you deserve treatment.
Do you believe any further such psychiatric evaluations should be undertaken post-operation?
If they see a therapist already (likely for anxiety, depression, etc,) they shouldn’t stop seeing them because of srs, but if they didn’t before, then there’s no real reason to begin seeing them
What might be your greatest hopes and fears upon achieving a successful transition?
Whether or not others are violent towards me (Luckily this town is like, passively not caring atm, if not actively supporting it 😃), and in general getting used to be considered female.
Aside from that, I’m just another person, which much the same concerns as other humans.
Do you believe such transitioning surgeries should be privately or publicly funded? Do you believe the same as to regards de-transitioning surgeries?
I come from a country where SRS is already covered by the federal government (Canada). So, yes. If Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) was covered, it’d be even better. I believe masectomies are covered, though I’m not sure there.
Do you have any thoughts with regards to the following article?
The general problem is that “Detransition” stories like this one focus on a tiny, tiny portion of the population, (like, that’s… 14 total people out of… how many get SRS?) and then they become the driving force behind trying to tighten up the process by which the other 99% of trans people have to go through, and make it even more hellish for us.
Also wonderfully, the article appears not to interview any of the detransitioners, but rather a surgeon who appears to fear that the WPATH Standards of Care will update to let minors have SRS (which… there’s no indication they will), and a psychotherapist who tried to write a study based on a handful of people and discuss it like it were an increasing trend. How impartial! :V
From the vague way the surgeon explains it, it reads like those detransitioners ended up where they were because of poor training (on the staff’s end) leading to poor communication, leading to a surgery that wasn’t actually asked for. It seems more like they need to raise the bar on training regarding trans care, not raise the bar on who’s eligible for trans care.
What is your view of the following statement:
A 2011 study found that after sex reassignment surgery, more than 300 Swedish transsexuals faced a higher risk for mortality, suicide ideation, and psychiatric issues compared to the rest of the population. The researchers concluded, “Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.”
That it’s taken out of context, has been frequently taken out of context, and one of the individuals behind the study wishes it wasn’t taken out of context:
“People who misuse the study always omit the fact that the study clearly states that it is not an evaluation of gender dysphoria treatment. If we look at the literature, we find that several recent studies conclude that WPATH Standards of Care compliant treatment decrease gender dysphoria and improves mental health.”
Do you have a comment with regards to the differences between dysphoria and transsexualism?
The former is the currently accepted term for discussing the distress that comes from a gender identity incongruent with their assigned sex, and the other is an outdated term (though some trans people still identify by it) that’s used sparingly at best.
Further, what might be the proper reaction to the following:
The review of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham’s aggressive research intelligence facility (Arif) found no robust scientific evidence that gender reassignment surgery is clinically effective.
Research from the US and Holland suggests that up to a fifth of patients regret changing sex. A 1998 review by the Research and Development Directorate of the NHS Executive found attempted suicide rates of up to 18% noted in some medical studies of gender reassignment.
To what extent should the above be potentially discredited due to the use of 20-year old review given the likely differing views and societal pressures as compared to modern sentiments? To what extent should it be accepted given the previously quoted 2011 Swedish study?
That it’s a 20 year out of date study based on an older version of the standards of care, advances have been made since then, and that the environment a dysphoric individual lives in is just as important as the actual medical transition. Nvermind that the 2011 study is taken out of context and does not actually support these results.
To what degree might you concur with the following statements as a means of potentially further addressing the above?
Transgender psychiatrists, who assess whether patients should change sex, agree that more scientific research is needed. But Kevan Wylie, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ working party on gender identity disorders, said that all of his patients’ lives have drastically improved following gender reassignment surgery.
Dr Wylie added that it was difficult to conduct research on the outcome of gender reassignment, or to compare its effects with alternative treatments, because transsexualism was such a “rare experience”. Urological surgeon James Bellringer, who has performed more than 200 sex changes over the past four years, claimed that trying to carry out research that involves studying a control group of transsexual patients who were denied hormones and surgery would be unethical.
Mr Bellringer, who works at the main NHS gender identity clinic at Charing Cross hospital in west London, said: “I don’t think that any research that denied transsexual patients treatment would get past an ethics committee. There’s no other treatment that works. You either have an operation or suffer a miserable life. A fifth of those who don’t get treatment commit suicide.”
Pretty much. Pretty much everyone I know has found an improved frame of mind due to transition, and my own life has become much improved since starting. Denying transition is, to a lot of us, like denying medication for any other disease.
There have been attempts made to not treat it with transition in the decades past, but transition has stayed because transition works.
Do you have any reservations with regards to the above statements?
Well, Bellringer does exaggerate with the “Operation or miserable life.” Some (a significant number) of trans people do require SRS, but the non-op community exists as well, with myself on the fence between the two.
Otherwise, nope.
Do you have any comments with regards to the following article?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/16/transition-caused-more-problems-than-it-solved
Specifically, to what extent might one consider it possible that some gender dysphoria might have a connection to a failure to feel safe in the role of one’s previous gender?
Eh. Again, it’s one story. While I can agree with and understand his reasons for detransitioning, I’d still rather not have to make the agony for myself and others worse.
How, in general, do those in the trans community view those who have chosen to de-transition?
Over-sensationalized. The reason trans people get defensive over detransitioners is because the media loves “both sides-ism,” and presenting the detransitioners as an undercurrent that the trans narrative doesn’t want you to know about. This in turn creates uncertainty and stigmatizes transition, (WHAT IF YOU REGRET IT!? is something my friends and I have hear far too often), and is often used to support more draconian gatekeeping, which forces us to present as almost a stereotype of our gender identity and might even force us to be at risk of violence. Real life experience before HRT is hated by the trans community for that reason.