Transsexualism: The Ultimate Conformity to Gender Role and Identity?

It’s 6:00 PM and I’m tired from a long day of work. I arrive at a staff meeting (ugh), with my daughters, 4 and 9 years old respectively, in tow. We walk in and find a place to sit. Others are there, milling about, eating pizza and chatting amongst themselves. My kids ask for pizza and I give them the green light to proceed. As they walk up to the serving table, they notice our new co-worker, whom I will name Susan. Susan is wearing baggy jeans with chains hanging from them and a t-shirt with cut off sleeves. She has a shaved head and various piercings and tattoos. I hear, “That’s a boy!”  “No it’s not. It’s a girl!” “Boy!” “Girl!” Wow, these kids have really lost their minds. Fearing they may embarrass my co-worker, I shush them up, glance apologetically in her? direction and make them sit. My eldest daughter looks at me and says, “Mom, can you tell ____, that that’s a boy!” Hmmm… I don’t know this person. I don’t know if they identify as male or female, so I go with what I know… “That’s Susan, she’s our new co-worker.”

Transgender: An individual who’s behavior and or physical appearance is not consistent with societal gender roles.

Susan, I later discovered, identified as a female, although she did not conform to societies’ expectations of the female gender. I apologized to her, and her response was, “That’s ok. It happens all the time!” I should have figured. We work with young children daily and they speak openly and honestly about what they think and how they feel. Susan, is obviously confident within, and that gives her the courage to within stand the stares and the whispers. But what about those who cannot? What about those who do not identify with their biological sex and gender role that so often defines how we “should” be?

Transsexual: Someone who’s gender identity does not match their biological sex.

“I’m sick of people saying that I’m just blindly ‘becoming male’. I know the risks and I’m already male. I just need to help my body understand that.”- Anonymous

 I've always been intrigued by the idea that someone would go through the process of changing their physical anatomy to become the gender they identify with. Isn’t this idea of role conforming contrary to an ideal society where one is not defined by their gender? Well, we don’t live in that ideal society, so let’s understand why individuals choose to have sex-reassignment surgery.

Gender Dysphoria: A condition where a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity.

Many individuals not identifying with their biological sex experience high levels of psychological distress. I imagine it feels somewhat like you’re trapped in your own body. Your mind says you’re one way, yet your body says something different. This continuing conflict between mind and body is generally the determining factor that pushes and individual to undergo sex-reassignment.

But, why? After all sex-reassignment doesn’t really make you biologically different. Anatomically, yes but internal organs are remaining intact although external genitalia changes. I would argue that undergoing sex-reassignment surgery helps create an environment in which conformity to gender roles is ubiquitous. After all, if we lived in a society that did not place certain expectations upon us, would we really be in this position in the first place?

Works Cited:

The Psychology of Human Sexuality by Justin J Lehmiller

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexualism

http://transquotes.tumblr.com/

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx