Quote from: Miniar on October 17, 2011, 10:50:52 AM
Once again, the cycle of arguments goes around and around and around....
Did I say, anywhere, at any time, that sexual reassignment surgery is a choice or is optional?
No, I didn't.
But that doesn't mean that it is, by it's very nature, absolutely 100% mandatory either.
That's where the problem lies.
Just because I can live without srs does not make me a woman. Just because I can live with my vagina doesn't make me a woman any more than having been born with one.
THE DEFINITION OF WOMAN IS NOT VAGINA!
Is this really so bloody hard to understand?
It's not about whether or not SRS is or isn't fundamentally a choice, it's about the fact that it can be, for some, possible to be themselves without srs while others may feel they need it to be remotely comfortable in their own skin.
It's absolutely, 100% necessary for some, but not all.
THIS DOES NOT MAKE THEM ANY LESS MEN OR WOMEN!ยจ
Yes, for most of us, "if" it were possible to have a 100% guaranteed result of a 100% fully functional set of genitals, we'd all jump at the chance, but let's face it, there's no 100% guarantee, there's no 100% fully functional, and there's a lot of pain, a lot of cost, and considerable risk of losing more than just a little.
You know this, you've been here a while, you've seen girls post of their third or fourth revision, eventually giving up on the hope of ever feeling content with what surgery has brought them.
We do have a choice, I don't care what WPATH says, no one can physically force us to have any surgery of any kind against our wills. We can "choose" not to accept a medically necessary heart transplant. We can "choose" not to undergo medically necessary cancer treatments. Therefore we can "choose" not to have SRS.
Those of us who choose not to have SRS don't do so because we're "crazy" but because when we're faced with the cost (fiscal, physical and mental) as well as the risks, and we weigh that against our own personal level of dysphoria regarding the downstairs area and the results we can theoretically expect in a "best case" scenario, we find that in our own personal position, as it is, at least for the time being, the surgery is not something we're willing to go through with.
This doesn't mean that it was a simple choice for other people, in other positions, with other personal backgrounds and so on.
It doesn't mean that it's the same for everyone.
It doesn't mean it's cosmetic or even "elective".
It means quite simply that my body will be altered to suit my needs. MY NEEDS!
Not yours, not some other persons, MY NEEDS!
It doesn't change what your needs were any less "needs".
It means that I am not you.
It's very simple.
I am not you.
Here's the only thing I want from you.
Stop dictating my identity, stop dictating my transition, and stop othering me.
That's it!
Nail on the head.
At the end of the day what's being argued about here is conformity to a series of norms and as such the issue is sociological and political. Leaving aside gender, srs and all the rest for a minute this very same discussion could be about one's political or religious beliefs or even the use of skin lightening creams.
We haven't all been socialised in the same manner, some us have very different political views regarding conformity in the wider sense and society in general. Personally I couldn't care less what anyone wants to do with their 'bits' but I do care very much that they are allowed to do whatever they wish so long as no one is hurt by their actions.
Neither a man nor a woman nor anyone in between should be judged by what they have in their underwear, their appearance, their ethnic origin, religious belief, age, sexual orientation and so on... Live and let live and back off judging people and projecting crap onto others.
There are far more important issues in this world of ours than arguing over whether a trans person should have srs, should desire to have srs or couldn't care less about it. If we really want to resolve these issues society itself needs to change and we need to aim for a day when gender difference is no big deal and of course free health care is available to all.
We have been brainwashed into accepting we are somehow wrong. Yes, according to the American Psychiatric Society we have a psychiatric disorder and some of us even want to let that stand so as to access privatised health care. Well, ->-bleeped-<- that. I don't give a monkey's what the APS think, I'm not even American so who the hell are they to tell me I have a disorder! The issue here is that we don't have a disorder, it's just one big scam linked to their own self importance and privatised healthcare. Free healthcare for all, worldwide is the solution. The money IS there, swords into ploughshares as the saying goes...
Don't argue about this petty stuff FFS, get out there and change our thieving lying systems of government if you have this much energy. We are human beings equal to anyone else in this world, do not let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
