My primary critique of Raymond’s book is a passage I also agree with. She describes our bodies as possessing native ecosystems which become disrupted when transgender surgery happens to them. Her words transport me back to Catholic School where I was taught that each human body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. If I believe this (and I do) then my body is not my own and certain destructive behaviors (smoking cigarettes for one) become off-limits to me. However, not every human being thinks this way. People have been getting tattoos and piercings since recorded history began. We color our hair and think nothing of it. We’ve walked in platform shoes and high heels and have put on make-up. We’ve been scarified. So it seems to me that the plastic surgery involved in an attempt to alter one’s sex is an extension of all those thing, not a difference in kind.
However, forcing a person to engage in sex role stereotyping in order to qualify for sex surgery is the height of oppression and (at least in the U.S.A.) has mostly stopped. And the transgendered, although possessing agency, have nowhere near the power that their doctors have. Raymond is wrong to assume that both sides are equal, creating a team out to destroy female integrity. That thought probably doesn’t even cross the mind of someone exploring sex-change surgery.
All around, it’s an ugly business with almost universally devastating consequences for one who goes under the knife–particularly if one is trying to “become female.” NO ONE wins when trying to subscribe to patriarchal notions of who’s who and what goes where.
Just some random thoughts. I would very much like to hear from other people on this subject–without anyone having to raise his or her or hir or their voice.
My primary critique of Raymond’s book is a passage I also agree with. She describes our bodies as possessing native ecosystems which become disrupted when transgender surgery happens to them. Her words transport me back to Catholic School where I was taught that each human body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. If I believe this (and I do) then my body is not my own and certain destructive behaviors (smoking cigarettes for one) become off-limits to me. However, not every human being thinks this way. People have been getting tattoos and piercings since recorded history began. We color our hair and think nothing of it. We’ve walked in platform shoes and high heels and have put on make-up. We’ve been scarified. So it seems to me that the plastic surgery involved in an attempt to alter one’s sex is an extension of all those thing, not a difference in kind.
However, forcing a person to engage in sex role stereotyping in order to qualify for sex surgery is the height of oppression and (at least in the U.S.A.) has mostly stopped. And the transgendered, although possessing agency, have nowhere near the power that their doctors have. Raymond is wrong to assume that both sides are equal, creating a team out to destroy female integrity. That thought probably doesn’t
even cross the mind of someone exploring sex-change surgery.
All around, it’s an ugly business with almost universally devastating consequences for one who goes under the knife–particularly if one is trying to “become female.” NO ONE wins when trying to subscribe to patriarchal notions of who’s who and what goes where.
Just some random thoughts. I would very much like to hear from other people on this subject–without anyone having to raise his or her or hir or their voice.