Gender And Gender Roles Have Work For Centuries

The consequences of gender change can be disastrous for a human being. That’s what happened to Bruce Reimer. He was born a completely normal boy. But after a circumcision, he had his genitalia completely destroyed. His mother was desperate and didn’t know what to do until she met “John Money, who was a psychologist and sexologist well-known for his specialized research in sexual identity. Money was a professor of pediatrics and medical psychology at Johns Hopkins University, from 1951 until his death.” (Duffy, J. 1999) He was a psychologist not a surgeon. He convinced Bruce’s parents to change him into a girl through surgery. John Money, a sex researcher wanted to do an experiment and

Discussion of issues related to non-normative sexual and gender identities as related to mental health began in the 19th century (Drescher, 2010). Initially medical and psychiatric providers viewed issues related to gender identity as resulting from delusional thought processes (Drescher, 2010). As a result the concept of surgery as a solution to gender identity differences was viewed as unnecessary and ultimately an incorrect form of treatment (Drescher, 2010). In 1952 the first gender reassignment surgery was performed in Denmark on an American citizen (Drescher, 2010). The publicity in the American media that followed this surgery brought the concept of gender identity to the public eye. During the 1960s research about gender identity started to develop and it was the work of Money, Stoller, Benjamin, and Green that ultimately change professional and public concept of Gender Identity (Drescher, 2010). These four individuals were among the first to conduct clinical and academic research on gender identity and gender roles (Drescher, 2010). As a result of their research beliefs about non-normative gender identity shifted from a problem of the mind to a biological disorder that was fixed and should be treated with

“The Five Sexes Revisited” focused on the importance of therapy over surgery. Medical ethicist Laurence B. McCullough of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor Collefe of Medicine in Houston, Texas “contend[ed] that in the process of assigning gender, physicians should minimize what he calls irreversible assignments: taking steps such as the surgical removal

Through examining the ways intersex individuals are treated in a medical setting, one can see how science only allows binary bodies to be created. Crawley et al. (2007) discusses intersex individuals and the standard treatment of intersex children, being to alter their ‘abnormal’ genitalia to resemble one of the two genders. This has become the normal treatment as if this is necessary, but the only threat the child is in danger of is not fitting perfectly into the heteronormative standard of correct genitalia. Because surgical intervention proves we alter and change one’s sex, it becomes difficult to claim that sex and gender are solely biological, when clearly one’s gender and sex becomes largely altered the moment they are born into society. Anne Fausto Sterling, outlines her concept of the five sexes, explaining that intersex is a term used to describe any individual that doesn’t fit into the narrow categories of male and female. She explains that the same process that was in play in the Middle Ages is

Kristen A. Burgess, Emory University School of Medicine and Charles F Gillespie M.D., PhD, department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, state that “gender identity disorder is a mental disorder in which gender identity is incongruent with anatomical sex”. Individuals experience different degrees of unhappiness with their sex at birth, which in turn causes them to pursue the life and body of the opposite sex (2010).

Gender dysphoria is one of the characterizing aspects of being transgender, and while not all transgender people experience this, for those who do mental health often suffers; for this reason many consider medical treatment necessary to improve their well-being. Gender dysphoria, as described by the DSM-5, “manifests in a variety of ways, including strong desires to be treated as the other gender or to be rid of one’s sex characteristics” (Kupfer). It’s often accompanied with distress, which can lead to depression, anxiety, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts. In fact, suicide is all too common in transgender people. A survey of over 6,000 transgender people done in 2010 found that 41% had attempted suicide at some point in their lives (Grant 82). This high number is a trend that continues to be reflected in other surveys, such as one in

Gender dysphoria is the formal diagnosis for people who experience distress over their assigned physical sex and/or societal gender. People who suffer from this are colloquially called trans men (female to male) and trans women (male to female) respectively. Often, a trans person will elect to undergo medical transitioning to better align their physical body with their mind. As one can expect, transitioning is an arduous process which can include a plethora of medical treatments, such as hormone replacement therapy, mastectomy / breast augmentation, masculinization / feminization facial surgeries, hysterectomy, etc. Trans people who physically transition are said to be transsexual, due to the change of their physical sex instead of simply the change of how they present themselves. Transitioning is often seen as the pentacle of a trans person’s life, and it is a significant, political issue in the LGBT community.

One in every 2,000 babies born every year are neither male nor female, they are what is known as hermaphrodites. These children and their families are forced into a life of hardship and encounter many conflicts, which need to be addressed. Should the parents choose the assignment of the sex to a newborn child and subject them to a life of surgery and doctor visits? There are 100 to 200 pediatric surgical reassignments every year. Many of these children are subjected to doctor visits for the rest of their childhood. Worst of all, many of these children find themselves resembling or identifying with the gender opposite of that which their parents chose for them.

The medical and behavioral (DSM) community has chosen to let go of the more shadowy term “Gender Identity Disorder,” in favor of a less charged and hopefully more suitable term, “Gender Dysphoria,” for transgender individuals. This paper will explore conventional clinical perspectives and subsequent changes therein; survey a few theoretical frameworks, both conventional and more post-modern, in order to gain a better understanding of how to effectively work with gender dysphoria. The main body of this paper will be structured under specific headings, beginning with a brief historical description of gender dysphoria, followed a brief discussion on etiology with some clinical implications. Current theoretical frameworks will be presented

Introduction: Believe it or not, hermaphrodites are more common than you would think. But at birth, their parents think they’re doing their child a favour by having them undergo surgery to being just one gender rather than both. Is this justified? Are parents and doctors right to do this to the life of a child? What about the child’s say? Should they be able to choose whether or not if they want to be one gender when they’re an adult? Or should they be forced to live a life as a gender that they may not want to be?

A long term study of people who chose to undergo sexual reassignment surgery found that their suicide rates were considerably higher than the rest of the population. McHugh's research suggests that today's sexual education gives teenagers a skewed view of reality. Children and adults alike are led to believe that a physical surgery will fix or confirm their physiological status, but this is apparently not the case. McHugh ends his research with this statement, “'Sex change' is biologically impossible. People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women” (McHugh). You cannot physically alter you're natural sex thus it would be far better to deal with such situations on the physiological level rather than misleading people into thinking a surgery will fix all of their

In general terms, I have never given gender identity much thought prior to this reading. Yes, I saw headlines about various people undergoing surgery to change their gender, but I did not consider all of the implications, and how it affects many people, other than the person who is receiving the surgery. Gender dysphoria affects social, medical, and even cultural perspectives, Yarhouse points out, when a child begins to show behaviors similar to the opposite sex, it places a lot of responsibility on the parents to how they should handle the situation. This leads off into how companies treat their employees who identify as transgender, and at various other places such as schools at all levels of education (Yarhouse, p. 15). As well as to how

“I'm not like other girls,and I don't want to be. The person who people want me to be isn't who I am, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change my gender to fit the stereotypes. I'm going to remain a girl who loves boy things” (Anonymous). Science has crossed the line with gender reassignment surgery. The process of gender reassignment surgery is an unnecessary mutilation. It reinforces gender stereotypes. Also there is no scientific proof that the ‘disease’ that people claim to have even exist.

In today's world, many people are confused about their gender. This has led numerous people to plastic surgery. A countless number of them feel the only way to truly be themselves is through getting a sex transformation. Even though many of them get the surgery on the down low, the effects from the surgery eventually come to light. On the Jerry Springer show, a number of episodes involved the audience guessing what the gender of the person was before they underwent surgery. It’s sad to say, that the majority of the women on the show were originally men. The expenses of buying a whole new lifestyle, the emotional drainage they are likely to face, and the periods of physical pain in hormonal change all are factors they deal with after plastic surgery.

When people are asked if they would like to know the sex of their fetus, much of the answer is “Yes!” Knowing the sex of the unborn child allows parent to plan and prepare the “baby room” and set the child’s gender role of how men and women are expected to look and behave in society (textbook). Through toys and interactions with parents, children develop their sense of gender identity which stays with them for the entirety of their lifespan. However, some children do not identify with their natal sex but rather with the opposite sex and are called transgender (TG). These individuals who decide to seek treatment to change their bodies, such as male to female (MTF) and female to male (FTM), to reflect their identified gender are called transsexuals (textbook).