Sunday 3 March 2013

Regret?

Sex changes are a huge deal and much time must be put forth when considering such a big decision.

There are a number of cases where transsexuals underwent sex reassignment surgery and came to regret their decision. One person, going by the alias Claudia, recounts her experience as 'rushed.' She felt undergoing male-to-female surgery would solve all of her problems, including her relationship. Her full story can be found here.

Statistics about surgery regret are scarce and hard to find. The topic is still taboo in society, therefore many scientists are unwilling to study it because the subjects (transsexuals), are unwilling to participate. However, a study in 1992 stated that postoperative surgery is generally low - only 1% in female to male, and 1-1.5% in male to female. (More about this can be found by clicking this link.)

So the question quickly becomes: why are postoperative regret stories making more headlines than successful stories? I personally think it's because society still isn't comfortable with people changing sexes. Upon reading comments on an article republished from 1993 in 2012, I find that people are still very judgemental and frown upon this surgery. I find that people like to see that these surgeries don't work out to affirm their belief that a man is born a man and must therefore be comfortable with himself, just as a woman should be with herself. (These comments can be found here.) I find that people are still very uncomfortable with the thought of transsexuality that stories of failure make them feel better about themselves, potentially because they would not be happy if they were to have gender dysphoria.

(Image taken from TransGriot)


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