Social Psychology
To be or not to be: Sex change in America
Being born in your own skin shouldn't be a shame. Having thoughts of self hatred for your own body is not normal. Hating your sex and wanting to change sex is not something to be taken lightly.
From a psychological point of view, there have been cases where people feel psychologically sick with their bodies. They hate being born the way they are: boy or girl and they decide to change sexes. Yet, changing sex is much more than just being castrated. It means to change not only physically but emotionally and psychologically. You need to change your whole personality. So, what if a boy feels like a girl in his mind, and a girl feels like a boy? What if they are tortured by this thought for the rest of their lives: "I'm trapped in the wrong body". That's exactly what people who have done their sex change operation feel like. In many psychological reports we have seen the same sentiments: "I'm trapped in the wrong body, I'm not supposed to be born like this, I don't want to have this sex anymore, because it's just not me". Do we judge them? Do we condemn them? Or do we just try to understand them?
Let's try to understand this issue for once. When one sets out to live free and be happy, that involves doing whatever one wants, right? Some people perceive this erroneously, they believe that their decisions and their actions won't affect the whole of society or change the course history. They say to themselves: "as long as I'm happy I don't care what others think, say or do". That is the new way to live life right now, and that is ok sometimes. But to go ahead and learn how to be a man or a woman, is that preposterous? Monique Wittig wrote about not being born a woman, but becoming one, thought she never talked about women changing sex. I admire her, and for a long time I thought about that mantra: One is not born a woman, but becomes one. I would write endless essays of how one would become a woman: evolution, feminism, radicalism, liberation, awareness, open mindedness and freedom. Does this values apply to a woman changing sex or a man wanting to be a woman? Should I feel offended or honored that a man would like to be a woman?
From a feminist personal point of view
First of all: being a woman is not easy. We are perceived by sexual objects, we are objectified all the time. We are discriminated against by everyone. It doesn't matter that is 2014, we are still a struggling class. Every 5 minutes a little girl, a woman, is raped, sold as a sex slave, exploited, prostituted, mutilated, humiliated, abused, insulted, portrayed as a media whore, drugged, date raped, ridiculed, cheated on, taken for granted, beaten up, abused verbally, psychologically and mentally, and ultimately killed. We have a unique reproductive system, we give life and we feel the repercussions of being a real woman every month, let alone having to go through menopause, endometriosis, breast cancer, infertility and other feminine diseases.
One can say that it is appalling to allow men to be like us. But they are not us. They will never be a real woman. Their exterior, physical appearance may be altered to look like one, but deep down inside of their anatomy lies their male reproductive system, always present, always reminding them that they will never be a real woman. Men: you can use as many hormones as you want, you can buy breast implants, you can have facial surgery, you can change your hair, do your nails, do your make up, learn how to walk, talk and act like a woman. Basically you're playing a role: the role of your life. But who are you fooling? Not me, just yourself, because deep down inside you hate women, you don't glorify us, you don't respect us, you don't understand what is like to be a woman. You just want to be like us, but you don't want to be wholesome like us, you just want to be the fantasy showgirl, the one that you're already used to see in media tabloids, that's who you want to be. Ultimately, you end up choosing different female role models in order to imitate them, in order to become a copy of a copy of a copy. But women are just more than that. Give us the respect we deserve, be happy the way you were born as a man, love your dick, don't mutilate it! You as a man decide to be a woman, just to be with other men, or women, without really facing the consequences of being a real women. You don't have to get an abortion whenever someone rapes you at gun point, you don't have to give birth (the miracle of life) because you can't, you don't have to experience every month menstrual cramps, endometriosis, infertility, no; you just have to stride into an operating room as a man and come out as a woman. Just by doing that, you think you are a complete woman, you think that a woman is just tits and pussy, well we are much more than that!
So, what about women who want to be men? From a feminist point of view, it is just degrading wanting to be the same sex as your oppressor. Why would a woman decide to go through a series of challenging medical tribulations just to be a man? Their perfect vaginas mutilated, their wholesome breasts, cut off and mutilated, their psyche fractured, and all for what? To be a man? Inside you will always be a woman, you will always have a unique reproductive system that entails you to give life or simply take it. Do you hate yourself so much that you have to mutilate your body to be happy? Call it whatever you want, but it is simply not natural for a person to be so hateful of oneself. Some people would say: "I used to hate my body, I would sometimes look at other men and think: if I'd ever had a sex change, I'd want to be that guy." But things are not that simple. You are stuck with your body until the day you die. So why not celebrate it, cherish it and protect it from harmful decisions. Yes, being happy is important, but at what cost?
I've met men, who are bisexual and are doing the sex change thing. I genuinely feel insulted by both parties. It is easy to change sexes when you are completely unaware of how to make yourself happy. A psychological research (Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge, 1991) has shown that from a sample of a 100 people who had decided to change sex, only a 10% of those people are somewhat happy, the other 90% are still experiencing depression, regrets and overall self destructive feelings. Think about that decision, it is not to be taken lightly. Yes I have posed as a man in pictures, yes I sometimes assume the stronger role in a lesbian relationship, but not all the time, it depends on the mood, so that doesn't mean I'm going to run and have a sex change. You have to realize it before you make that decision. Realize that you are in first place a happy individual, because the operation wont make you genuinely happy. Only you will, mentally, psychologically and emotionally.
From a Sociological point of view:
Using the Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954), people who are trying to change sexes have an intrinsic drive to gain accurate self-evaluations by evaluating their own opinions and abilities, by comparing themselves to others and ultimately achieving their sex change operation, in order to reduce the level of uncertainty and anxiety that they feel in their own skin. People who have changed their sex have done so by first comparing themselves to the sex that they are trying to emulate, and later trying to learn how to define themselves with the sex that they have chosen (man or woman). Some participants (Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge, 1991) have reported that before deciding to do the sex change operation, they would feel that they were born in the wrong body, ultimately, revealing that their effeminate or masculine behavior was modeled after a role model early in their developmental years.
If you learn how to behave like a woman or a man at an early age, you will be more inclined to follow a specific gender. Since we are gender indoctrinated before we are born, at first glance it may seem unnatural to have a sex change operation.
References:
1. Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7(2), 117-140
2. Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge -Sex Reassignment. Thirty Years of International Follow-up Studies After Sex Reassignment Surgery: A Comprehensive Review, 1961–1991 (translated from German into American English by Roberta B. Jacobson and Alf B. Meier)
To be or not to be: Sex change in America
Being born in your own skin shouldn't be a shame. Having thoughts of self hatred for your own body is not normal. Hating your sex and wanting to change sex is not something to be taken lightly.
From a psychological point of view, there have been cases where people feel psychologically sick with their bodies. They hate being born the way they are: boy or girl and they decide to change sexes. Yet, changing sex is much more than just being castrated. It means to change not only physically but emotionally and psychologically. You need to change your whole personality. So, what if a boy feels like a girl in his mind, and a girl feels like a boy? What if they are tortured by this thought for the rest of their lives: "I'm trapped in the wrong body". That's exactly what people who have done their sex change operation feel like. In many psychological reports we have seen the same sentiments: "I'm trapped in the wrong body, I'm not supposed to be born like this, I don't want to have this sex anymore, because it's just not me". Do we judge them? Do we condemn them? Or do we just try to understand them?
Let's try to understand this issue for once. When one sets out to live free and be happy, that involves doing whatever one wants, right? Some people perceive this erroneously, they believe that their decisions and their actions won't affect the whole of society or change the course history. They say to themselves: "as long as I'm happy I don't care what others think, say or do". That is the new way to live life right now, and that is ok sometimes. But to go ahead and learn how to be a man or a woman, is that preposterous? Monique Wittig wrote about not being born a woman, but becoming one, thought she never talked about women changing sex. I admire her, and for a long time I thought about that mantra: One is not born a woman, but becomes one. I would write endless essays of how one would become a woman: evolution, feminism, radicalism, liberation, awareness, open mindedness and freedom. Does this values apply to a woman changing sex or a man wanting to be a woman? Should I feel offended or honored that a man would like to be a woman?
From a feminist personal point of view
First of all: being a woman is not easy. We are perceived by sexual objects, we are objectified all the time. We are discriminated against by everyone. It doesn't matter that is 2014, we are still a struggling class. Every 5 minutes a little girl, a woman, is raped, sold as a sex slave, exploited, prostituted, mutilated, humiliated, abused, insulted, portrayed as a media whore, drugged, date raped, ridiculed, cheated on, taken for granted, beaten up, abused verbally, psychologically and mentally, and ultimately killed. We have a unique reproductive system, we give life and we feel the repercussions of being a real woman every month, let alone having to go through menopause, endometriosis, breast cancer, infertility and other feminine diseases.
One can say that it is appalling to allow men to be like us. But they are not us. They will never be a real woman. Their exterior, physical appearance may be altered to look like one, but deep down inside of their anatomy lies their male reproductive system, always present, always reminding them that they will never be a real woman. Men: you can use as many hormones as you want, you can buy breast implants, you can have facial surgery, you can change your hair, do your nails, do your make up, learn how to walk, talk and act like a woman. Basically you're playing a role: the role of your life. But who are you fooling? Not me, just yourself, because deep down inside you hate women, you don't glorify us, you don't respect us, you don't understand what is like to be a woman. You just want to be like us, but you don't want to be wholesome like us, you just want to be the fantasy showgirl, the one that you're already used to see in media tabloids, that's who you want to be. Ultimately, you end up choosing different female role models in order to imitate them, in order to become a copy of a copy of a copy. But women are just more than that. Give us the respect we deserve, be happy the way you were born as a man, love your dick, don't mutilate it! You as a man decide to be a woman, just to be with other men, or women, without really facing the consequences of being a real women. You don't have to get an abortion whenever someone rapes you at gun point, you don't have to give birth (the miracle of life) because you can't, you don't have to experience every month menstrual cramps, endometriosis, infertility, no; you just have to stride into an operating room as a man and come out as a woman. Just by doing that, you think you are a complete woman, you think that a woman is just tits and pussy, well we are much more than that!
So, what about women who want to be men? From a feminist point of view, it is just degrading wanting to be the same sex as your oppressor. Why would a woman decide to go through a series of challenging medical tribulations just to be a man? Their perfect vaginas mutilated, their wholesome breasts, cut off and mutilated, their psyche fractured, and all for what? To be a man? Inside you will always be a woman, you will always have a unique reproductive system that entails you to give life or simply take it. Do you hate yourself so much that you have to mutilate your body to be happy? Call it whatever you want, but it is simply not natural for a person to be so hateful of oneself. Some people would say: "I used to hate my body, I would sometimes look at other men and think: if I'd ever had a sex change, I'd want to be that guy." But things are not that simple. You are stuck with your body until the day you die. So why not celebrate it, cherish it and protect it from harmful decisions. Yes, being happy is important, but at what cost?
I've met men, who are bisexual and are doing the sex change thing. I genuinely feel insulted by both parties. It is easy to change sexes when you are completely unaware of how to make yourself happy. A psychological research (Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge, 1991) has shown that from a sample of a 100 people who had decided to change sex, only a 10% of those people are somewhat happy, the other 90% are still experiencing depression, regrets and overall self destructive feelings. Think about that decision, it is not to be taken lightly. Yes I have posed as a man in pictures, yes I sometimes assume the stronger role in a lesbian relationship, but not all the time, it depends on the mood, so that doesn't mean I'm going to run and have a sex change. You have to realize it before you make that decision. Realize that you are in first place a happy individual, because the operation wont make you genuinely happy. Only you will, mentally, psychologically and emotionally.
From a Sociological point of view:
Using the Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954), people who are trying to change sexes have an intrinsic drive to gain accurate self-evaluations by evaluating their own opinions and abilities, by comparing themselves to others and ultimately achieving their sex change operation, in order to reduce the level of uncertainty and anxiety that they feel in their own skin. People who have changed their sex have done so by first comparing themselves to the sex that they are trying to emulate, and later trying to learn how to define themselves with the sex that they have chosen (man or woman). Some participants (Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge, 1991) have reported that before deciding to do the sex change operation, they would feel that they were born in the wrong body, ultimately, revealing that their effeminate or masculine behavior was modeled after a role model early in their developmental years.
If you learn how to behave like a woman or a man at an early age, you will be more inclined to follow a specific gender. Since we are gender indoctrinated before we are born, at first glance it may seem unnatural to have a sex change operation.
References:
1. Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7(2), 117-140
2. Pfäfflin, Friedemann & Astrid Junge -Sex Reassignment. Thirty Years of International Follow-up Studies After Sex Reassignment Surgery: A Comprehensive Review, 1961–1991 (translated from German into American English by Roberta B. Jacobson and Alf B. Meier)
Social Psychology and Sex Change in America
