I am going to regret this most likely but I am going to try a more measured response that might clarify why some people are displeased with what you are saying- so let’s start here:
“The medicalization of trans bodies, although helping us get surgeries, is very detrimental to our health. The thing is, society WANTS us to medically transition, to then be able to pass and become heteronormative again.”
Ok, surgery in the case of trans people is a medical procedure done to alleviate sex dysphoria. Unless you are claiming it is a cosmetic choice akin to an extreme body mod but considering our very high suicide rates (even within accepting communities or families) due to the stress of dysphoria I hope you can see where such a parallel would be neither wise nor accurate. Testosterone, similarly is a schedule 3 substance only prescribed medically- typically for those with an endocrine disorder- and our desire to access is NOT like a bro at the gym hoping to use it for some cosmetic purpose but rather as a cure for a set of symptoms collectively called “Gender Dysphoria” by the DSM-V. Our needs, for surgery and hormones, are medical in nature. The “medicalization” of trans bodies is historically set by trans people, we sought access to these things from the very beginning, because they are the only things that alleviate our distress. Therapy has not worked. Being told to “love yourself” has not worked any more than being told “love Jesus” has worked. For the dysphoric, in the words of Laverne Cox, “It is not elective, it is not cosmetic, it is life-saving”. We are seeking medical care because being trans is a medical condition.
And speaking of therapists, their existence and the fact that we have have had to fight tooth and nail for access to basic medical care (you want to talk gatekeeping?), that we really are what we say we are and shouldn’t be held to higher standards of masculinity or femininity than the general populace or that we shouldn’t have to be straight, that we shouldn’t have to be anything except dysphoric and in medical need of transition for our mental and physical health is evidence enough that “society”* absolutely does not want us to transition. In nearly every gender clinic in the West not touched by trans activism “transition” is considered the worst possible outcome and we have been subjected to everything you can imagine in order to prevent that outcome.
If we honestly lived in a society that believed in transition so strongly then being trans alone would not be a source of oppression. It would be like any other illness where you went to the doctor with symptoms and they guided you through the medical process for relief of those symptoms. And we’d have a one-up over others with invisible (mental or otherwise) disorders in that people would apparently believe us and encourage us.
*In some countries what you say is true, transition that leads to a heterosexual outcome is preferred over (cis) homosexuality and there is a different conversation to be had there. Still, for dysphorics transition is a medical need.
“I’m kind of at a loss as to how either of you think its not harmful to have to admit to be mentally ill over and over again in order to receive insurance benefits.”
I am kind of at a loss as to how you apparently have such a dim view of people with mental illness. Is it “harmful” to people with ADHD (another condition listed in the DMV-V) to have to “admit” to being “mentally ill” in order to access medication? Should adderall be free to access to anyone who wants it and insurance should have to cover it for them? College kids studying for finals week should get insurance covered ADHD medication despite not being ADHD? Of course not, medication goes to the people who need it and, yes, that involves “admitting” that… though as someone with ADHD (as well as Gender Dysphoria) it never saw that as a bad thing or as detrimental to my health (if anything it was a good thing that gave me access to medication that I needed in order to be healthy). The only reason for any kind of shame or distress is the social stigma and misunderstanding that comes with having any sort of mental illness or invisible or chronic disorder. But for me the response to that is not to eliminate all categories of mental illness (etc.), after all, I will still need medical help on both fronts, but rather working against mental health stigma in society as well as stigma against invisible and chronic conditions.
Hopefully that clarifies things.
areudirty
stormborns
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