How Changeable Is Gender?
Is gender easily changeable? There are a range of expectations about how males and females are supposed to behave, and a roster of options and opportunities for men and women. But what is gender identity? Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex at birth or can differ from it. In this essay, I will argue that transgender experience should be recognized and respected socially and culturally, with medicine playing a supportive role, rather than a determinative one, and therefore should be accepting of gender reassignment surgery.
Transgender experience should be recognized and respected socially and culturally. “THANKS to Caitlyn Jenner, and the military’s changing policies, transgender people are gaining acceptance — and living in a bigger, more understanding spotlight than at any previous time” (Friedman). We’re learning to be more accepting of transgender individuals. And we’re learning more about gender identity, too.
Medicine should play a supportive role in transgender experience. We will want and need the support of the medical profession, but it should not be the medical profession that leads the formation of dialogue regarding transgender experience. “In fact, attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, through so-called reparative therapy, have been debunked as quackery and rightly condemned by the psychiatric profession as potentially harmful” (Friedman). Medicine is supposed to be beneficial to maintain health or treat a health issue yet in this quote medicine is doing more harm than good.
Gender reassignment surgery is considered to be important to transgender experience. Sex reassignment surgery (SRS), also known as gender reassignment surgery (GRS) is a surgical procedure by which a transgender person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble those associated with their identified gender. “But if gender were nothing more than a social convention, why was it necessary for Caitlyn Jenner to undergo facial surgeries, take hormones and remove her body hair?” (Friedman). Caitlyn Jenner as a woman, may have done all these superficial artificial things (breast implants, big hair, make-up, etc.) but Jenner will be female because she says she is, not because of the plastic fantastic facade. If it makes a person feel better to look as the gender they feel then who are we to judge them.
Transgender experience should be recognized and respected socially and culturally, with medicine playing a supportive role, rather than a determinative one, and therefore we should be accepting of gender reassignment surgery. People should have the freedom to assume whatever gender role makes them comfortable and refer to themselves with whatever pronoun they choose; we should encourage people to be who they really feel they are, not who or what society would like them to be. As a society, we must be kind and loving to all. Therefore, we can certainly accept anyone who embraces their identity and/or has whatever medical procedures he/she can secure.
Word count: 507
Works Cited
Friedman, R. (2015, August 22). How Changeable Is Gender? Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/richard-a-friedman-how-changeable-is-gender.html
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