Change and surgery

I was reading some of the news about Chaz (formerly Chasity) Bono's transistion from a woman to a man, and noticed almost all the news media got it wrong, very wrong. And when Mara Keisling, NCTE director, conducted an interview with CNN, she tried to correct the information but really dug a deeper whole for many in the transcommunity. While she was close to factually correct (some facts were underreported), she didn't seem to convey the message.

The point she seemed to want and did make was that when someone transistions from either gender to the other, surgery are options for them, and it totally depends on them, the necessity for surgery, their medical approval for surgery, their healthcare insurance and finances - especially the latter since many insurance companies don't cover the surgery, and their personal interest to be whole and complete, and fully legally recognized, in their life in the other gender.

This is one of the contradictions with transistions. To legally change one's birth certificate in the US from one sex to the other, all states require sex reassignment surgery (SRS) for male-to-female but not female-to-male. I've never found a good explanation for this except that the latter is extensive and invasive surgery and expensive, clearly off the radar for many transmen. The law only requires the letters proving living for a minimum period as male with the history of hormones.

But for transwomen, surgery is a legal necessity and for most it's what they want, the problem is affording it. When it costs $8-10K for overseas surgeries and twice that in the US and Canada, it's not hard to understand why Ms. Kiesling's comment was off. The numbers support that while most don't have surgery, the numbers who do is large, which means there are far more transpeople than people think.

And this last point is one of the issues in the transcommunity, is surgery necessary to be be a complete and whole woman? And the responses are always interesting and often self-contradictory. That's because most transwomen will swear the surgery isn't necessary to be a whole and complete woman, but then after their surgery will say it's all about the surgery, meaning having a vagina is part of the experience of being a whole and complete woman.

There are many, some say most, that surgery isn't necessary even if it was available and/or affordable. But they find it difficult to argue against the question, how many genetically-born female women would want a penis and testicles in place of their vagina. It's the rhetorical question in the room and puts the non-surgery transwomen left being and feeling different from those who want the surgery. And while many of those can't afford it or it isn't available, it doesn't change the contradiction in the comment about non-surgical tranwomen.

What's also interesting with the media about Chaz is the wholesale acceptance of him by the media. The media will degrade, demean and dehumanize almost all the other transpeople. That's ok in their eyes and normal. That's what angering about the events over Chaz. She's now between the proverbial rock and a hard place because if she wants, as she says, her privacy with the transistion, she'll anger the community for not being a good public spokesperson.

And if she becomes a spokesperson, she'll lose her privacy, time and really her life. It's the catch-22 that many public profile transpeople have to deal with, be out and public or be criticized by the transcommunity. Those who have been through it eventually fade into a low level of public participation, but it never goes away. It becomes their public identity that's never lost or forgotten.

It will be interesting over the months to a few years how much Chaz does and how much he can change the public perception of transpeople. It's hope she does what a few have done and not what many transmen in the past have done, which is become men and disavow the transcommunity, especially transwomen. Some simply decide to join the mainstream and disappear, often not even recognizing or identifying their history.

This is the usual goal of transwomen, to mainstream and become invisible. Many do and chose to walk away from the community. That's the normal reaction, but for many it's impossible and they're obviousness can't be hidden. It's the reality of many transwomen. Almost all transmen, however, can transistion to become invisible, and seen as just men. The transistion with hormones changes everything imaginable about their bodies and their minds. It's like they were born male.

And while many transmen become invisible, most simply decide not just to stay invisible, but simply not even speak up, even in the face of criticism and worse words about transpeople. They decide to just watch and allow it to happen. Chaz, as other transmen have, can change that, even in the smallest way. To show both transmen and transwomen are normal people with the same normal issues and struggles in life.

So, I raise a glass to him and what he can do. Now, will he do that?