Sex reassignment surgery: Gender Freedom

Sex reassignment surgery: Gender Freedom

November 19, 2014 by Grainne Farrell0
Sex-reassignment-surgery.jpg

Sex reassignment surgery

I love the movies Freaky Friday, 13 going 30, She’s the Man, Mrs. Doubtfire, etc. They’re all about gender or role or sex reassignment films with no surgery done. More of a magical or funny transformation. As a kid, I always fancied how it feels like to be in someone else’s body. That would be an adventure- to be someone else and hit the UNDO button once you’re tired with the role you’re playing or ask the fairy or the magician to bring you back to your old form- Abrakadabra! I am back!

But what if you have been trapped into someone’s body?  A body that you don’t like or wish you never had and there’s no UNDO button or no fairy that would help you end the spell given by a witch. That would be a struggle. Playing the role you never like is not an easy deal. What could be more frustrated than having the gender identity, expression or behavior which different from the assigned sex at birth? Gender identity is your internal sense of whether you are male or female. When you are transgender, this feeling doesn’t match your actual sex. Your body is male or female, but inside you feel you are really the opposite sex. You feel “trapped” in the wrong body. Since magic, fairies and witch are all fantasies, the only possible solution to end the “spell” is a sex reassignment surgery- to make the body match how he or she feels inside.

Public awareness is on the rise for sex reassignment surgery and I am extremely happy about it. For long years,  many transgender and gender-variant people experienced stigmatization and discrimination as a result of living in a gendered culture into which they often do not easily fit. They did not only experience an inner sense of not belonging but also discrimination, harassment, sometimes lethal violence and denial of basic human rights. Stress is a fact of life. Most of us have periods of stress at various times in our lives. But extra stress can have a serious effect on your health, especially if it lasts for a long time.  I never stopped hoping for  equality and acceptance for the transgender people. Gender freedom – isn’t that what we’re all fighting for with every breath we take? Well, how are we going to win it if we don’t support each other’s right to be different from us? Each person has the right to express their gender in any way that feels most comfortable.