Yet my point is that being careful still doesn’t stop them, and actually stopped other people from rightfully getting treatment.
I know people who were denied treatment because they were openly attracted to the same gender. I know people who was denied treatment because they went to their first appointment wearing trousers, in the late 90’s! They weren’t even men’s trousers, but it was enough for the gatekeepers to say no. They eventually got their treatment and never regretted it.
One GIC doctor in the UK had managed to get himself the nickname Dr Death, due to the high level of suicides among his patients, and an attempted suicide rate of over 70%. He never got struck off though. That is what careful gets you.
I can’t name names because of UK libel law, but he was well known in transgender support groups 15 to 20 years ago.
If you didn’t fit his view of 1950s femininity, you had treatment withheld. I would never have met his standards and already had a history of suicide attempts. I very nearly had to go and see him, but I fortunately got an appointment at another GIC. It wasn’t easy, but at least they had heard of women’s trousers.
This is quite true. The concept of a psychiatrist as some sort of omniscient mind probe is extremely silly and fallible.
I have two close friends who grew up male, became suicidally depressed, and decided to transition in their early 30s. Both of them had very successful transitions, were deemed perfect cases by their psychiatrists, and created new lives for themselves. And, less than a year later, both of them realized that becoming female hadn’t gotten rid of their problems, and became suicidally depressed again, now worse.
That by itself doesn’t necessarily mean that they had made a mistake. There are a lot of people who have post-op high only to later realise that it hasn’t fixed all of the other problems in their life.
I agree that it’s utter fucking BS. And I’m really sorry that you have to go through all that. You and no one else should have to. Our society is really fucked.
Several years ago, I encountered a young lady who had indeed had surgery to give her the pointed elfin ears deal. She was attired in a simple t-shirt and jeans. I wanted so badly to walk up to her and offer the following: “If you’re gonna invest all that time and money in getting pointy ears, you goddamned better DRESS like an elf ALL THE TIME!”
I had my gender confirmation surgery in January of 2016. I went to Canada because my insurance didn’t cover it, and the exchange rate saved me a ton of money. Anyway, I don’t actually have much of a problem with the hoops I was required to jump through, as far as the therapy and counseling requirements go. I had other issues to work through first, as they were muddying the waters a bit. I have known trans people who took shortcuts, and went overseas to surgeons willing to bypass the hoops, and they ended up regretting the surgery. One, unfortunately, came to the conclusion that the surgery was a mistake not just for them, but for everyone, and that gender identity issues were just bullshit. In other words, after the surgery realized they were a cross dresser, and not transgender, but somehow extended that to believing that there was no such thing as transgender. My point in all this is that, I, unlike many trans people, think the hoops are a good idea. And as far as people getting surgery to transform themselves into an elf (or tiger or lizard or or or), well who am I to judge. But they should have to jump through some hoops too. If they don’t, they may discover after the surgery that they just spent a whole lot of money and went through some painful, permanent changes, that didn’t fix their problems.
I would think that would be the last thing you did. Everything else is basically still human and if you decide a couple years into it that you just aren’t into it at least you don’t have silly pointed ears.
Forcing me to go to two one hour sessions is not about anything more than mitigating liability for the surgeon and the insurance company. If you want therapy that’s great, but the old WPATH requirements are not current anymore. It’s not necessary for everyone. I followed the informed consent model.
I think it’s like this: 20+ years ago I went to have Lasix surgery done. I was told all these horror stories about people who went blind mostly from well meaning folks that were worried I’d travel to Canada to get it because it wasn’t available in the US. Turns out the actual complication rates were negligible. Gender confirmation surgery is kind of like that. There is a big splash with folks that de-transition, but if I recall the actual rates of trans people feeling that way is also negligible. I’m not saying that it’s not a huge deal for those folks that end up in that position, but that they are the exception, not the rule.
Not all of us need or want to jump through those hoops. With the changing standards, that’s all they are in some cases, hoops. I see it as gatekeeping in my case.
While I agree that the overall process needs to be made more accessible and more affordable, I’m not sure I agree with you about the motivations of those requiring therapy. First of all, most insurance plans, at least in the US, still don’t cover gender transition related medical expenses. Secondly, and maybe I’m naive, but I honestly believe that most of the surgeons who perform gender confirmation surgery, or at least the ones who follow standards, actually care about their patient’s outcomes for their patient’s sake and not just to limit their liability.
It’s a frustrating process, that’s one thing I suspect we can agree on. My main objection, though, is the expense. I began my transition at the age of 36. After working through the issues I mentioned previously, I had my letters at 39. I had surgery at 47. That 8 year gap was purely financial. That needs to change. However, given the current political climate here, I’m not holding my breath.
Those pricks were here in the 70s and made us their goddamn control group! Fuck their whole precious post-scarcity trustafarian paradise right up its tight little asshole. No, wait, they’d probably enjoy that.
