San Antonio Gender Association
Male to Female Transition
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San Antonio Gender Association
Are you going to have the sex change operation?
The very fact that we are often asked that question illustrates just how difficult it is for people to understand transgender..
People have a hard time separating the concepts of sex, sexual orientation, and gender. In very simplistic terms, let me explain. Sex
is about anatomy, sexual orientation is about attraction to other people, and gender is only about social roles and social interaction.
These are very closely related things, of course, but they are not identical.
In most people, these three closely related things fit the norm that society expects of us, and those persons are very comfortable about
whom they are.
What is called Gender Identity Disorder is really a medical condition. Science has learned that the male brain is biologically different
from the female brain and that we all start out in the womb as females. Some of us are genetically programmed to become males, but
when that programming goes wrong, a person can be born with a female brain in a male body.
Persons born like that, learn, when they are very young, that something seems terribly wrong. They know in their minds that they are
girls, but all of the adults around them keep telling them that they are boys. They start to think they are the only person in the world like
this, and they can live for decades, feeling shame and guilt because of it. They can learn to adapt, and act like boys, and they can grow
up acting like men. But for them, it is always just acting; and it always feels wrong.
When they finally learn that they are not the only one in the world like this; after they learn that they can change the body that society
sees, and they find the courage it takes to actually do it; for many transgender, the genital reassignment surgery is no longer of any
great importance. As we interact with society every day, going to work, shopping, visiting friends and neighbors, whom do we show our
genitals to? It is the interacting with society, as either a man or a woman, that is most important to the transgender person. The
decision to have the genital reassignment surgery usually comes down to the individual’s personal situation of romantic or marital
relationship, sexual orientation, and overall health. Some may want to have the surgery and others may not.
Another important consideration not to be overlooked: often, it is just a matter of cost. It can easily add another $25,000 to the tens of
thousands of dollars already spent on therapy, hormone treatments, and other medical procedures to accomplish transition.
The very fact that we are often asked that question illustrates just how difficult it is for people to understand transgender..
People have a hard time separating the concepts of sex, sexual orientation, and gender. In very simplistic terms, let me explain. Sex
is about anatomy, sexual orientation is about attraction to other people, and gender is only about social roles and social interaction.
These are very closely related things, of course, but they are not identical.
In most people, these three closely related things fit the norm that society expects of us, and those persons are very comfortable about
whom they are.
What is called Gender Identity Disorder is really a medical condition. Science has learned that the male brain is biologically different
from the female brain and that we all start out in the womb as females. Some of us are genetically programmed to become males, but
when that programming goes wrong, a person can be born with a female brain in a male body.
Persons born like that, learn, when they are very young, that something seems terribly wrong. They know in their minds that they are
girls, but all of the adults around them keep telling them that they are boys. They start to think they are the only person in the world like
this, and they can live for decades, feeling shame and guilt because of it. They can learn to adapt, and act like boys, and they can grow
up acting like men. But for them, it is always just acting; and it always feels wrong.
When they finally learn that they are not the only one in the world like this; after they learn that they can change the body that society
sees, and they find the courage it takes to actually do it; for many transgender, the genital reassignment surgery is no longer of any
great importance. As we interact with society every day, going to work, shopping, visiting friends and neighbors, whom do we show our
genitals to? It is the interacting with society, as either a man or a woman, that is most important to the transgender person. The
decision to have the genital reassignment surgery usually comes down to the individual’s personal situation of romantic or marital
relationship, sexual orientation, and overall health. Some may want to have the surgery and others may not.
Another important consideration not to be overlooked: often, it is just a matter of cost. It can easily add another $25,000 to the tens of
thousands of dollars already spent on therapy, hormone treatments, and other medical procedures to accomplish transition.