When Delusion Overcomes Reality

It’s no mystery that progressivism frustrates the poop right out of me. I literally must sit on a toilet for at least three hours after reading anything related to this taboo. It drives me up the wall, like a spider-monkey, every time this plague on America rears it’s ugly head. But in all seriousness, modern “progressive” attitudes often cause more harm than good.

Today, I’ll be espousing another politically incorrect and certainly controversial opinion about gender politics. Judith Butler is probably one the most influential feminists and culture critics in the last fifty years, maybe even in the 20th century. Her theories on disguising between sex and gender have changed how western culture converses about these issues. Whether Butler is correct about sex and gender being completely separate remains to be seen. However, the theory itself has manifested some unfortunate consequences. Non-heterosexual gender identities arose as western culture became more welcoming of them; not that they didn’t exist before, but simply outside of cultural awareness. Gender theorists have caused portions of feminism to shift away from women’s rights and towards sexual liberation by eliminating gender roles. Some might call this variation “gender-feminism.” Others might classify third wave feminists with that label, but I’m not a scholar on the development of feminism so my brief analysis probably has errors.

People often make a distinction between transgender and transsexual. The former is term used to identify people who don’t fit into a specific gender. The latter is specific to people who reject their anatomical sex. Two medical dictionaries (American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) define this as transsexualism. However, medical dictionaries may not be enough to convince people. Body Integrity Identity Disorder is a psychological disorder where patients believe their lives would be better as an amputee. Xenomelia is a similar disorder where patients reject anatomical parts of their bodies (i.e. an arm or leg). Notice how all three disorders involve patients believing something about their own bodies that conflicts with reality. Yet, our culture (outside of the medical field) doesn’t acknowledge transsexualism as a mental illness. Butler’s theories, along with other factors, start causing trouble because transsexual people are still lumped into a transgender identity.

Leelah Alcorn's tragic suicide inspired me to write this post. He’s—I will refer to his actually sex, risking insensitivity—a victim, but not from his family. Granted, they probably could have handled the situation better. Not sending your child to conversion therapy is great start. As a Christan, I think that “therapy” is remarkably stupid. The Alcorns have suffered massive criticism from the media when they don’t deserve all of it. Leelah wanted to start hormone treatments. Apparently, he thought that was his only avenue.

Folks like Leelah, young and maybe not properly informed, make this assumption: gender reassignment will improve my health, physically and mentally. I’m sure some people who consider this option know the risks before hand, but western culture’s increasing acceptance of it (government medical plans now offer coverage) probably encourages less research. Regardless of one’s moral opinion, gender reassignment surgery is body mutilation. The faux genitalia are created using natural genitalia which sometimes eliminates a patient’s ability to orgasm. Hormone treatments before surgery are unpleasant to say the least. It’s expensive and the whole process is long. The waiting and strife would be worth it, if gender reassignment did anything beyond relieving some gender dysphoria. A thirty year study from Sweden concludes that patients generally have a higher mortality rate after surgery than before (though there are always exceptions). Unfortunately, there is isn’t an abundance of long-term studies exploring the effects of gender reassignment on patients. For many people the surgery fails to make significant impact on their mental stability.

People suffering from transsexualism want to change their sex and gender. Due to many performative aspects of gender, one can simply reside in an identity regardless of their genitals. Gender reassignment changes one’s physical appearance, but changing someone’s sex is impossible. A man who wears a new gender cosmetically is still, in all technicality, a man. A reassigned individual knows this and I believe that’s why surgery doesn’t stem the depression and suicidal tendencies afflicting transsexual people. John Hopkins University pioneered gender reassignment, but stopped because they came to the same conclusion as the Swedish. If western culture is as progressive and open minded as we claim, then we need to acknowledge all possibilities. Instead of selling gender reassignment, we should be researching alternative psychiatric treatments that don’t involve ruining someone’s sex organs.

Then I come back to Leelah. How different would his life have been if he’d gone to a real doctor with regular therapy sessions and family with a little more understanding. He might have chose life instead of death. Leelah’s a victim, not of culture that oppresses transgender people, but one obsessed with political correctness and trying to make sexual liberation the “civil rights” movement of the twenty first century. A culture that endorses people irrationally rejecting their own flesh because it fits the narrative of a genderless world. A culture that sells gender reassignment like a magic pill. I’ve heard Leelah’s death has inspired the advocacy of many LGBT groups fighting for transgender rights. Maybe we should see this tragedy as a reason to better understand transsexualism and how to treat it. Simply demanding more access to surgery and hormone treatments is like giving a band-aid to man with a gaping chest wound.

This isn’t about sexual rights, transphobia (a silly fear) or forcing people into heterosexual gender identities. I realize my stance can be offensive. No one likes to hear, “Oh by the way, we think you have a mental illness.” To any trans people who read this: please understand, I say this because you all deserve better than a surgery which fuels delusion. It’s cruel and inhumane to ignore this mental illness and those who suffer under its affliction. I’d rather offend someone than lie to them. That’s what western culture is doing: lying to sick people because apparently we’re too cowardly to face reality.

Here are some related articles:

Milo Yiannopoulos

The Wall Street Journal

The Guardian

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