Take My Breasts, Please! Young Women’s Crisis of Identity
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It’s time to talk about breasts.
Specifically, mastectomies – The surgical removal of breast tissue. According to the Mayo Clinic, this procedure is intended for those suffering from breast cancer, or those at high risk of same.
But, like so many other things, this procedure is being used in what can only be called an “off-label” way, to treat transgender people. Transmen (that’s self-loathing women, for those keeping score) are starting to tell their stories of undergoing this procedure without understanding its ramifications. They describe a streamlined pipeline, wherein chopping off titties is treated as just the next step to fulfilling your dreams.
Don’t worry, honey – We can cure the nightmare of Womanhood with crowdfunding!
I bring this up now for two reasons:
- The media tends to focus on transwomen, the Laverne Coxes and Caitlyn Jenners of the world. But in the younger set, transmen (girls) far outnumber them. Some measures put this number at 4:1.
- We are reaching critical mass.
Listen to the Doctors
The UK appears to be Ground Zero for this modern social contagion. The Tavistock Centre is the only “gender development” (a phrase which should give us pause) clinic in Britain.
The past three years have seen upwards of 30 resignations from Tavistock. It appears not everyone is on board with the Brave New World.
Now, one of them has taken the institution to court.
Susan Evans was a psychiatric nurse at Tavistock. The 62-year-old conscience-bearer has brought suit with the High Court against the Trust that runs the Centre, and the National Health Service itself. She is joined by a woman called “Mrs. A.”, a mother concerned for her 15-year-old daughter who wants to be a boy, and Keira Bell, a desisted transman.
We Don’t Want to Be Girls (read: Sub-Human)
Keira is the one making headlines. She has taken over the role of lead plaintiff, telling interviewers, “The treatment urgently needs to change so that it does not put young people, like me, on a torturous and unnecessary path that is permanent and life-changing.”
Can’t you see I have my own shit I’m dealing with??
Keira is 23 now. She has a better understanding of herself than when she started treatment at 16. She had her breasts removed at 20, after years of hiding them. Hiding from them.
“Hormone-changing drugs and surgery doesn’t work for everyone and it certainly should not be offered to someone under the age of 18 when they are emotionally and mentally vulnerable.”
My heart breaks for Keira and girls like her. If I were 15 years younger, I would be lining up for my testosterone. I went through what is apparently an all-too-common phase back when none of this literature or infrastructure existed.
The Personal Can Make You Political
I intuitively understood that any kind of transition would really just be trading one set of problems for another. Practically speaking, I’m 5’4″ with 40″ hips; No one is ever going to mistake me for a man.
I hacked my way through a jungle of internalized misogyny, born of being an underachieving “gifted” kid who perverts assume is a nympho (Thanks, pop culture stereotypes!) And I did it mostly alone. I spent some time in queer spaces throughout my 20s but never really felt at home there.
I was 27 before I understood radical acceptance. Before I really saw that I identified with male characters because they were the ones doing interesting things. That tampons are $5 a box but condoms are free and plentiful.
Let kids be kids!
Etc., etc., ad nauseum. In a world where violent porn is standard, I do not blame these droves of young women for opting out of being a sex object. I get it.
We Must Support Young Women in Defining Themselves
Fast-tracking them onto puberty blockers that reduce bone density is not a good idea. Most will never come off the Trans track once set on it.
Most gender non-conforming children – You remember us, the Tomboys and Sissies of yesteryear – eventually find a way to accept ourselves as we are. This was considered the best possible outcome until recently. How exactly are drugs and surgery better?
Many of us grow up to be homosexual. Gay erasure, converting little potential homos into the opposite sex, is a frightening implication of all this. I’m not a lesbian myself, maybe bi-leaning at this point. I am married with children, for all intents and purposes a straight, white lady.
But I’m far from normal in other ways.
Growing up is learning to accept and even love our difficult pieces. Doctors intervening in the fights we have with ourselves to sell us ammunition is wrong. It denies young people the opportunity to grow up, mentally and emotionally, as well as physically blocking puberty.
You might as well try them out before you throw them away!
It also sterilizes them for life. Which I’m strongly against.
It’s not complicated – If you don’t go through puberty properly, your reproductive system doesn’t develop fully.
And the scores of young women being sold “top surgery” (On Instagram, for fuck’s sake!) as the answer to their pesky problem of wanting to be seen as people are amputating sexual organs before they even have a chance to use them for anything. Which is also wrong. As well as downright unscientific.
This will not be the last lawsuit. It may be cathartic to see these clinics brought to task, but the culture that allowed this to happen has to b
e our focus.
How have we failed young women to the extent they are completely disconnected from their bodies?
One major point though. Most of the sex change regret in young female to males is among the "gay transmen", meaning heterosexual females with autism or other mental illnesses, not the girls that would have grown up to be lesbians. I've seen young female patients so autistic they couldn't even look people in the eyes (I'm Swedish btw), they give you reasons like "I was so uncomfortable getting my period, and then I knew I wasn't a girl", but what girl is comfortable getting her period lol? It's just young autistic women fixating on something, they have body issues (lots of self-harm in these girls), and they hear transkids talking about how happy they are with their bodies after transition. It's just insane really.
That's dreadful! Have you met would-be lesbians who didn't regret transition? I have encountered several who said they were set on that path in the first place because someone - themselves or someone else - couldn't accept the idea they were homosexual. I myself am an outlier, I was what would now be called dysphoric for something like 20 years, and have been solidly bisexual despite my best efforts lol But if given the opportunity to transition at 15 and told it would definitely solve my issues, there's a really good chance I'd be right there with them.
Very interesting article and I agree with most of your points. But I think the way you're framing it could alienate young lesbians.As an adult I still feel very uncomfortable being a woman and the nature of being one is not only useless for my own life, but has only brought me unnecessary pain. The reasons are both psychological and physical (in the case of women suffering from PCOS of endometriosis). For some women their lives will always be some level of miserable, I think this is especially true for lesbians. Obviously I don't have all the answers either, but the framing of "just try them out" is too cutesy for the legitimate suffering I've seen in young gay women.
I see what you're saying. Lesbians are wonderful, it's infuriating what has been done to their community over the past few years. I don't claim to speak for them, mainly bc I'm married with 4 kids lolBut I admit I have lucked out so far in the physical experience department. Didn't stop me building a mountain of what they now call "dysphoria," but I know some women have serious medical conditions. And, of course, the state of Women's Medicine is horrifying. I support anyone who alters their body for medical reasons. Have them removed and get tattoos instead, won't affect me much lol It's the whole pretending to be the opposite sex and demanding everyone play along that's the troublesome bit. Embrace whatever makes your reality most comfortable for you. These people are running from it.