So in order for us to have top surgery we must attend so many therapy sessions before we can get a note to indicate that we are ready to have the surgery, this also includes bottom as well.

While it's ok for people like Michael Jackson to get as many cosmetic surgeries as he wants without being ordered to go to countless of therapy sessions to get a note.  With so many surgeries that I considered to be unnecessary (sorry but I truly think it was, since I found no deformity on his face) he was able to get them.

Prior to his death he went from looking like this:

To being this:

I just bumped into this page http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10005422.html?tag=re1.galleries and notice this mug shot


So my question is this. We have to essentially be examined by mental health professionals to determine if we are mentally stable to have surgery that can improve the quality of our lives yet people like Michael Jackson and this guy are allowed to do things to their faces without getting a mental health consultation? How does that work?

When I look at these kind of picture I can't help but to  get pissed off!

It is upsetting. I think the last guy really should have his mind checked out. Who in their right mind would do that?

Nobody in the right stage of mind would do anything like that to their faces. This guy is literally scarred for life as a result of his decisions to do this to his face.

And if you thought the guy was messed up take a look at this one

I bet all of that could have been prevented if his parents just let him have a cat as a child.

I generally approve of trans people going through phycological steps because then surgeries can be covered by insurance, since it is a medical procedure. I agree that if you are paying out of pocket that you shouldn't need such an assessment.

But please don't get all judge-y on people.  It's their body, they can do what they want with it.  Just because you think it makes them "ugly" or something similar doesn't matter. They aren't doing it for you.

I have nothing aganst people doing plastic surgery or anything like that, its there body and there choise to do what they want with it and how they want it too look,

but yeah its pretty messed up how theres so many things we can do when being trans is so limited.

it might be posible for us not only to make sex chance surgery, but as well surgerys making people half man/half women, or making mens pregnent, and so on,
I think sience can do alot more than what is the caise today,
but I think playing with gender is such big tabuu that people limit it as much as posible to reseach or to try it on.

I couldn't watch the vid just to aaahhh yeah gross. I agree just get a cat and be just fine.

Me thinks their answer would be similar to ours "we weren't happy as we were, and are happier as we now are. It's our bodies, we can do what we want"

im sure some people also think we are wierd and groose for what we do to our body, but as long we are happy thats what matters,
I feel the same for the cat man and other people like that.

I always find it interesting every time someone who complains that other people judge them based on their appearance (gender, etc.) has absolutely no problem judging someone else based on their appearance. Double standards, much?

Not so much a matter of judging what they do to their bodies. It's unfair we have to have mental health ok for us to do it and not them. Great for them wanting to do it I don't get it but hey its not my face. I have to agree if I'm paying totally out of pocket for surgery than why should I need a doc letter, which I'm also paying for out of pocket?

Some doctors do not require a letter from a therapist (at least for top surgery). I think that a therapist's letter shouldn't be needed for surgery or body mods.

I guess my question is are you mad at these people for having body mods, or are you mad at the medical system which oppresses trans people constantly?

Quote from: Kayla on September 02, 2011, 04:42:29 PM
Me thinks their answer would be similar to ours "we weren't happy as we were, and are happier as we now are. It's our bodies, we can do what we want"

Agreed, for the most part. What bothers me about it is exactly what OP said, though. MJ, not so much, because he had ridiculous amounts of money and probably could've paid to be turned in a centaur if the science existed.

I didn't need a therapist or a letter or any of that crap for T or surgery.

I just had a consultation with an endo and got T the same day, and then had a consultation with a surgeon and then booked a time. 

I thought Michael Jackson was a burn victim?

Quote from: brandnewman on September 02, 2011, 04:55:58 PM
I always find it interesting every time someone who complains that other people judge them based on their appearance (gender, etc.) has absolutely no problem judging someone else based on their appearance. Double standards, much?

This.  This x 100000.  Couldn't have said it better myself.

Yes, it's unfair that our system is set up the way it is, but the things being said about people who undergo extreme body modifications (such as the guy in the mugshot and the "cat man") are the same exact sort of things that uneducated people say about trans folks. 

Although mine are not quite as extreme as the examples in this thread, I am heavily tattooed and also have piercings/stretched ears/etc.  And yes, I am in my "right mind" and do not see myself as "scarred for life" because I am fond of such things.

Da Monkey how did you go about finding both that didn't need a letter??

If people want to adopt a child, even an older child, they have to jump through an amazing amount of hoops. 

Whereas any drug addicts could get themselves knocked up.  We are not the only ones who have it rough.

By the way, I think should be therapists involved before any major elective cosmetic surgery. 
That includes letters for lizard and cat people. 

I agree it's messed up. But I think MJ had vitiligo and had no control over his skin pigment changing.

I wish Michael Jackson was seeing a therapist......

Quote from: SnailPace on September 02, 2011, 04:21:22 PM
I generally approve of trans people going through phycological steps because then surgeries can be covered by insurance, since it is a medical procedure. I agree that if you are paying out of pocket that you shouldn't need such an assessment.

But please don't get all judge-y on people.  It's their body, they can do what they want with it.  Just because you think it makes them "ugly" or something similar doesn't matter. They aren't doing it for you.

This.