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Originally Posted by Jamie89
From a trans persons point of view, they are 'cured' at the point of transitioning, and why should we dismiss that just because we don't understand what's behind it?
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I'm not sure, but we live in a world where homosexuality was/(is?) also treated as a mental illness, and there are people right now being 'cured' of it, so even if transsexuals have been 'treated' through counselling I don't think that it backs up the idea of it being a mental illness, especially when you consider that the vast majority of people who have undergone reassignment surgery have considered that to be their treatment and 'cure'.
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But they aren't 'cured' when they transition in many many cases. People live even more miserably than before, even more confused and some even attempt to go back to what they were before, which is difficult and never works out quite...'right' due to the years and years of stress and surgeries they have put upon themselves to chase the ideology that they are infact, the opposite sex. Those who are 'cured', again it could be a case of BDD...I have maybe been oversimplifying things but have went down this train of thought
As a teen I hated having huge breasts. I did not think I should have huge breasts. The huge breasts caused me distress and upset in many many cases. At one stage I had a total disassociation from my body and refused to believe it even belonged to me, such was my hatred for it. Now, it would be easy to say due to these feelings...oh my breasts do not belong to my body, I should be in a body without these huge breasts. And if I had at one point had a boob reduction...my distress and such would effectively have been 'cured'. This does not mean that I was infact in the wrong body and this is the reason for the 'cure', Not sure I am explaining this right though :S
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Originally Posted by Jamie89
To me, the 'born in the wrong body' thing is just phrasing. If the deeper issues surrounding transsexuality and the mentality behind it can't be fully understood then it can't really be articulated accurately either. So I don't think the terminology should necessarily be taken too literally. It's just someone trying to make sense of themselves. So even if it doesn't make total sense when analysed against the things that we do understand, that doesn't make the persons feelings that led to them saying it any less valid.
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I am glad you posted this, I tried to post something similar but couldn't find the words to make it sound right. My opinion is, while it is not fully understood, it is still a relatively new 'thing', is dishing out lifechanging surgeries and such really the answer? If having surgery makes someone happy, thats fine. But it appears the way things are going, people are having surgery due to being pigeonholed to believe they are not allowed to be the person they actually are unless they have different genitals? My opinion may well be ridiculously biased on this as of the people I spoke to, one has now, at a late stage in the process, decided that maybe there is no real need to have a vagina, that its just been gender sterotypes making him feel the way he did, and professionals not saying the 'right' thing in counseling sessions. I find it utterly disgusting that the so called extensive counceling for this person did not at any point include someone pointing out that wanting to dress 'as a woman' and such does not mean you are a woman at all, just that you do not go along with what society deems acceptable. And that if this line of thinking was included, they do not feel they would have gone down the homones and all route as they would have accepted earlier on that they are just a non gender conforming male. This person now has to make a choice between staying in halfway land which is making him miserable, 'finishing' the transition which would make him miserable, and reverting back to what he was before, which is a long and painful process, during which he shall be miserable. When the whole issue could have been shelved rather early on by him being given the realisation that it is actually OK to be a 'feminine' male.