Ethical Issues Behind Transgender Surgery

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What are the ethical issues behind transgender or gender reassignment surgery? Gender reassignment surgery, commonly known as GRS is “a procedure that changes a person’s external genital organs from those of one gender to those of the other.” (thefreedictionary.com) There are two main purposes for altering genital organs. First, newborns with intersex deformities must be assigned to one of the sexes early in life. These deformities be caused by abnormalities during the early stages of development when the growing fetus develops either the female genitals or male genitals as determined by the lack or presence of male hormone stimulation, respectively. Secondly, both men and women occasionally believe they are mentally a different gender than …show more content…

One of the main issues transgender supporters cite in support of GRS is the protection of autonomic rights. This basically concludes that it is each person’s right to decide what he or she wants to do with his or her body, and because of this they shouldn’t be restricted when it comes to deciding their gender. Bioethics seem to generally agree with this statement at least as so far as some experts’ application of utilitarian ethic. According to Maggi Colene Hume “looking to bioethical principles leads to the conclusion that [gender reconstruction surgery] is indeed morally permissible under certain conditions” (5). The conditions to be evaluated include the mental stability of the person and their knowledge of the consequences of the procedure. Psychological professionals act as “gatekeepers” to determine the readiness of applicants before they’re allowed to go through with the surgery. In America, applicants are required to complete an intense screening process before being allowed to have the procedure. The first step of this process includes spending at least one year of real-life experience living as their preferred gender in order to ensure they’re ready to live such a lifestyle and to ensure it’s what the applicant truly wants. The next step is to have the patient participate in hormone therapy because many gender identify disorders are caused by chemical …show more content…

I believe that Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria is a complicated physiological disorder that can be affected by the variety of things including the chemical makeup from person to person. We should treat the disorder as such and respect the people suffering from the disorder enough to try to solve the underlying cause, not just the outward symptom. I believe that this disorder can be treated through therapy and hormone therapy to establish hormonal and chemical balance within someone. I view gender reassignment surgery, unless for the benefit of the physical health of the patient, to be a complete waste of medical resources and to be an idea that has been glorified through the media as not only acceptable but as courageous; while the drawbacks of the surgery and the poor results are downplayed or ignored. I also believe that by making gender reassignments available we are “playing god” and taking physical alteration too far. Taking a physically healthy person and performing an entire change of identity because he or she is uncomfortable with the way he or she looks teaches people to be intolerant of problems instead of pushing through them and supports fighting the very way we were created. Lastly, with such alarming rates of people who ultimately were unhappy with their physical appearance and emotional state following the surgery, there doesn’t seem to be a countervailing benefit to

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