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Gender assignment surgery
Gender assignment surgery
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Born Human First
When a child is born, they are first introduced by a gender, parents are told they have a girl or a boy. The child is deemed normal and both parents and doctors are satisfied with the result. However, when a child is born that does not fit into either binary category, there is immediate concern and worry. Doctors search for an answer, a solution, so the child can be “normal.” In many cases doctors will turn to surgery. They will permanently alter the child's body for the sake of normality. Genital surgeries performed on infants who are intersex can induce many problems later in life. These surgeries are non-consensual, unnecessary, can cause psychological damage to the individual, and are not always accurate about the child’s
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So surgeons could choose a gender and it was upon the parents to raise that child following strict gender roles so that the child would comply with the chosen gender. Therefore it was considered to be the parents fault if the child later rejected the gender (Maxwell). This added to not only the parents’, but the child’s shame of their bodies and completely disregarded any questioning of the surgeries malfunctionings. Children who are intersex are subjected to years of scrutiny and exposure to medical doctors and their language (Tamar-Mattis). Rarely is a child psychologist called in to assist the doctors and parents with their decision. This is because doctors often rush into the surgeries without fully explaining the child’s condition. There is no explanation given to the child, parents are not informed of any alternatives to surgeries, rarely are they informed of the success rates or any real benefits to the surgeries. Psychologically there is little support given to them or to the parents and many parents recall being pressured to allow “normalizing surgeries.” Those who are intersex may be less likely to seek help later in life because of the shame they felt as a child (What are). Many children are often not told of the repercussion that the surgery causes and they often don’t find out until later in life that they are infertile, or that they cannot experience sexual stimulation. This secrecy can cause distrust between the individual and the medical community. Often when patients would find out the surgeries they had been subjected to they would stop seeking medical attention, even if it meant not getting the hormones they needed. Many patients remark that they would feel very self conscious because their condition was considered so “freakish” that even doctors and professional would not be honest with them (What’s
Overviewing our information, there is evidence of ethical wrongs and rights when considering sexual reassignment treatments for minors. Also, there are multiple options to choose from when transitioning and risks and gains that come with each. As we read from Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Beaver, the natural effects of puberty are irreversible while the effects of puberty blockers and hormones are reversible. Then from Dr. McHugh, gender dysphoria belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body and should be treated in other ways than blockers, hormones, or
In Intersexion: A Documentary about Being Intersex, an intersex individual named Mani Mitchell travels around the United States and the world to meet with other intersex individuals in the hopes of sharing their stories and raising awareness of the condition. Throughout the documentary, many individuals share their own personal experiences, but they often feel similarly about being intersex. They feel that being intersex is not a problem, but the way they are treated because of it is an issue. Many were subjected to genital surgery and forced to conform to the male-female sex binary. They discuss the consequences of these things as being physical, emotional, social, and psychological. While the documentary covers many aspects of being intersex,
For years homosexuality in the United States of America has been looked down upon by citizens, religions, and even politicians. The homosexual culture, or the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender), has been demoralized and stuck out and lashed against by the Heterosexual community time and time again. To better understand the LGBT community we must first grasp the concept of Sexual Orientation.
Gibson, B., & Catlin, A.J. (2011). Care of the Child with the Desire to Change Gender-Part 1.
In the past Johns Hopkins was a center for patients with a gender disorder. John Money, PhD worked in the Psycho-hormonal Group as a head. He had a very strange theory. He would apply his theory to actual patients, not knowing or expecting what would happen. The experiments he attempted on children and adult literally had no boundaries. One of well-known cases of gender identity disorder was about a boy. He was inducted into the Johns Hopkins center because of what happened during a normal ‘surgery’. The boy’s penis was accidently burnt during the circumcision. He underwent a surgery that made him have female body part. The little boy was raised as a girl. The boy raised as a girl felt as if he was a boy. When the family decided he was old enough to know they told him about what had happened during his circumcision. Once he had heard of this he decided to not be living as a female anymore. He later committed suicide. What we have learned from this experiment is that it comes with a lot of depression. Van Meter stated, “Because of the failures that began to materialize from Money’s ideology, the Psycho-hormonal group was abolished and Money was forced into retirement.” (239.) They are steps being taken to provide the best medical treatment and social environment with those who are suffering GID. I added this piece of information because I thought it was something we all show know about how the past has
In today's world there are many different sexual identities a person can adhere to, instead of just being heterosexual or homosexual. What a sexual identity is, is how one refers to think of oneself in terms of whom one is romantically or sexually attracted to. A type of sexual identity is when a person both male or female feel like they are inside the wrong body and they wish to have a sex change. Individuals who identify themselves as transgender aren’t usually adults, in some cases it is children who go through the stages of feeling out of place with there bodies and wish to change it. Some people in today's society would find it very odd that children would wish to be in a different body, in order to understand why this is happening you would have to know what exactly is transgender and transsexual, what causes transgenderism, and the early signs of transgenderism. This phenomenon has been around for a very long time and due to the fact that there is a large misunderstanding there is much confusion when faced with it. In order for one to understand how children become transgender or transsexual one must know what transgender and transsexual mean, what causes transgenderism, and the early signs of it and be mentally prepared for what is to come. Most of the responsibility in understanding transgender children falls on the parents of transgender children.
Treatment of intersex individuals was motivated by psychosocial problems, such as sex categories that may make socializing uncomfortable. John Hopkins University wanted to make each child’s body, upbringing, and mind align as much as possible. John Money 1953, believed that people with intersex should be surgically and socially engineered in a healthy psychosocial way. Cheryl Chase was the founder of the Intersex Society of North America. The women’s health movement, and queer rights movement, and Intersex Society of North America, allowed intersex individuals to become more open about being intersexed. Since 1993, the internet’s growth has allowed intersex individuals to meet others like them, and since then, education has allowed others to
It is important to understand the difference between gender and sex. The English language defines “sex” by using the anatomy that an individual is born with. In other words, the reproductive organs that makes someone female or male. “Sex” also includes the chromosomes that someone obtains to make them male or female, the different gonads, sex hormones and the inner and outer genitalia. When defining gender dysphoria and its connection to sex. Within the gender dysphoria disorder, which is a sex disorder, there are other developments that affect the normal and natural indications of each sex assignments. The use of “cross-sex” hormones, are very popular when someone is trying to masculinize or feminize the individuals original gender.
I believe that the reasoning behind our society’s strong need to maintain sexual dichotomy is the fact that if it changed it would contradict a long- established belief of what is considered normal. She cites Anne Fausto- Sterling saying “are genuinely humanitarian, reflecting the wish that people be able to ‘fit in’ both physically and psychologically” (183) as she stresses this it revels that doctors are making a decision to try and help children fit in to what is considered ordinary or usual as talked about in “The Five Sexes, Revisited” and now
Slaughenhoupt, Bruce L. "Diagnostic Evaluation and Management of the Child With Ambiguous Genitalia." KMA Journal 95 (1997): 135-141.
There are several theorists that have presented models on sexual identity development. Many of the models have stages of sexual identity development suggesting that certain characteristics are present during a specific period. However, Anthony D’Augelli presents a model that suggests processes rather than stages. These processes take place over the span of one’s life and not necessarily in any specific order or fashion. D’Augelli’s (1994a) life span model of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) identity development takes into account “the complex factors that influence the development of people in context over historical time” (Evans et al, 2010). According to D’Augelli’s (1994) theory, identity formation includes three sets of interrelated variables that are involved in identity formation: personal actions and subjectivities, interactive intimacies, and sociohistorical connections. Personal subjectivities and actions include individuals’ perceptions and feelings about their sexual identities as well as actual sexual behaviors and the meanings attached to them. Interactive intimacies include the influences of family, peer group, and intimate partnerships and the meanings attached to experiences with significant others. Sociohistorical connections are defined as the social norms, policies and laws found in various geographical locations and cultures, as well as the values existing during particular historical periods (Evans et al, 2010).
For many individuals, sexual and gender identity is a highly controversial topic to discuss. Those who have inconsistency with their internal or mental sense of gender compared to their physical gender is now described as a psychological disorder and is found amongst adults and adolescents. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders gender dysphoria also known as gender identity disorder refers to the stresses that accompany with the variances between one’s physical gender they were assigned at birth and one’s expressed or emotional gender (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Gender dysphoria can be contributed to many different stressors determined by ones social interactions. Throughout the years the diagnosis of gender dysphoria has evolved due to the progression of medicine and new treatment discoveries to help limit further mental issues that come with sexual identity disorders.
Clinically speaking, a person who was assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man is referred to as a transsexual man, or transman, or female-to-male (FTM); a male-to-female (MTF) person is a transsexual woman or transwoman (Glicksman). Some people drop the transgender label after they have transitioned to their new gender. However, they want to be referred to only as a man or a woman. But what if our gender identity, our sense of being a boy or being a girl, does not match our physical body? From a very early age we will start to feel increasingly uncomfortable. For some this is a mild discomfort, for others it is so traumatic they would rather die than continue to live in the wrong body. Unfortunately as transsexual people are a small minority of the population the condition has been labeled by Psychiatrists as "Gender Identity Disorder". With the transgendered, the disordered assumption is that the
Gender has been around throughout history; however, within recent years, gender has separated itself from the traditional view of sex, e.i., male or female, and has become centered on ones masculinity or femininity. Of course gender is more than just ones masculinity or femininity, gender has become a way for one to describe, he or she, in a way in which they are different from everyone else. Gender has turned into a sense of identity, a way for one to feel different and fulfilled among all of those around them. Of course gender’s sense of freedom would seem outside of structure and only affected by one’s own agency, however, structure is a key component in establishing gender. We can look into both ethnic Mexican’s culture practices regarding sexuality, children songs and games, and see that cultural traditions still heavily influence gender, creating what is masculine and what is feminine and what is the role of each gender, as well as challenging the notions that gender is solely based on agency.
Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...