Hypothetical question: a "cure"

[Kiera85]

Suppose a scientist creates a pill that will make all gender dysphoria issues vanish instanly upon ingestion. Would you take it? If you have already transitioned, would you have taken it?

The reason I ask is when my therapist first cast doubt on my dysphoria I felt quite upset and she seemed a bit perplexed about that and seemed to think I should be relieved. But in a way I hate the idea of being happy as a male, I feel I'd refuse such a pill if offered. Is this a strange way to feel?

[Sunderland]

Not at all. If there was a pill to make me a happy cis male, I would not take it. Because such a treatment might eliminate my dysphoria, but the price to pay would be that I would no longer be "me." My personality would have to completely change for me to be comfortable as a cis male. So I'd rather be an unhappy me than a happy somebody else.

[Reptillian]

I'll be looking at this thread every once in a while. I have to wonder though, for those who say no, what if your brain changes for some reason and you're no longer transgender? Would you still be "you"? This is coming from someone whose sexual orientation had died about 4 to 5 years ago.

[Tessa James]

Well let me quickly wander into the weeds of this question that pops up frequently.  A "cure" suggests a disease process and remedy for something that is wrong, bad, harmful and unwanted.  History for us includes electro-shock therapy and worse cures inflicted by the protectors of normal.  Often disregarded is the known efficacy of counseling, HRT, transitions and more that can afford us happiness and full participation in community and personal development.  A cure is too often part of "magical thinking" when we imagine magic wands and magic spells and pills that do it all in an instant flash.  Good for a fairy tale but IRL?  We know this process takes time and real work to succeed.

Rather than a device for eliciting thoughtful dialogue we often go to a defensive and angry posture about those that would cure rather than love and accept the diversity we represent and is part of the natural adaptation of species through time for survival.

Perhaps your hating "the idea of being happy as a male" suggests you are transgender and therefore not so strange in these parts?

[BunnyBee]

I'll be looking at this thread every once in a while. I have to wonder though, for those who say no, what if your brain changes for some reason and you're no longer transgender? Would you still be "you"? This is coming from someone whose sexual orientation had died about 4 to 5 years ago.

We all change over time.  I mean transition has changed me so much I can't even recognize the person I used to be anymore.  I think it's a continuity thing maybe, where I was still me back then, still a woman underneath, just trying to pretend not to be, and living with a different mix of hormones.  That same person being put into the circumstances I am in now becomes the person I am now. And its the version that lets me be the best version of myself I can be.

If you take a pill and step out of the natural progression of your own personal evolution and become something you never were, that feels different.  It feels like you lose yourself in the process.

[jeni]

I would absolutely not take the pill. I am me, and I have no desire to change my gender identity.

TBH, I don't know if I'd have even wanted a pill that could change my body before I grew up. My first transgender feelings were childhood fantasies about a device that would change my body and "magically" (technological magic in my narrative) change everyone's memories so I would not have to explain the change. Well, it would change everyone's memory except mine. From the beginning, I have had a strong attachment to my personal history, and I would not want to forget or pretend I had never lived in a male body or filled a stereotypically male social role. If I could take a pill now that would change my body without the discomfort of GRS (etc), then sure. But my life has been wonderful as I've lived it, and I would not consider it an improvement to have been born differently.

I wish people would stop describing this hypothetical as a "cure." I think most people would be far less comfortable asking hypothetical questions about "curing" homosexuality, or "curing" people who vote Republican, or "curing" people with the wrong color skin. It's a flat out offensive word, and no amount of hypotheticals and scare quotes "cures" that. I'm glad your post, at least, was better phrased..

[Kiera85]

Apologies Jeni, I did not mean to cause offence. Should have tried a bit harder to think of a better word.
Anyway I'm glad most of you seem to be on the same page as me.

[Mariah]

I wouldn't have taken the pill either. We are who we are and something through transitioning we come to terms with. 


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[cindy16]

I remember a similar thread from a few weeks ago, and my answer is the same as what others have said. I wouldn't want such a pill either.
Unless this pill which makes gender dysphoria vanish is nothing but a pill for HRT or even better an instant transformation, in which case I'll take it without hesitation.
But realistically speaking, the idea of a 'cure' is not just repulsive by itself, but it also usually implies that there will be some 'collateral damage' along with the 'cure'. That is why any such 'cure' even if it works would change us so fundamentally that we might not be the same person any more. e.g. it might change how we feel / think / love etc. Not many of us would want that.

[marsh monster]

If there were one I could have taken before transition, yeah, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. To me, being trans sucks, but I got dealt that card and I've been playing it the best I can, but if I could have been handed another hand early enough, I would have gladly played that one instead.

[awilliams1701]

I would take a pill that somehow performs SRS. A pill to make me want to be a guy? No way.

[Donnagirl]

I'd take it... Double dose just to be sure.


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[Amy85]

A pill to make me comfortable in my own skin, not have to deal with the incredibly daunting idea of being openly trans and struggling through a slow and expensive transition, and avoid all the horrible crap I'm putting my girlfriend through? Absolutely I'd take it.

[Jill F]

No freaking way.  I'm awesome just the way I am. 

[Serena]

I guess yes, but I'd rather not... But it would be so much easier.

[Natkat]

some years ago I might have said yes but today I rather want a pill to cure transphobia. I don't have a problem being trans, the world just tend to have a problem with me.

[Asche]

I remember a similar thread from a few weeks ago.

Do you mean this thread?

As far as I'm concerned, the question is the same, and my answer is the same.

However, if there were a pill to change my body from male to female (even a woman of my age and condition), that I would take.

[evecrook]

I'd go for the pills that make you larger or smaller so I could fit down the rabbit hole

[suzifrommd]

My female side is the most beautiful part of me. Making me cisgender in my birth sex would kill that.

However, I didn't have the usual sort of gender dysphoria. I didn't hate being a man. Didn't mind it actually. I hated not being a woman, if that makes any sense.

[skin]

If it was before my name change/starting hrt - absolutely, without a second thought. But now that ship has kinda sailed.