Transgender Paper
Causes of Regret: Analysis of Transgender Patient Satisfaction Following Sex Reassignment Surgery
Zhuting Wang
(#41700113)
Dr Sean Saunders
ASTU 150 (922)
July 18, 2011
Introduction Over the past few decades, many legal barriers to the modification of sexed bodies have been removed in several countries and regions, which has led to the trend in transgender individuals undergoing surgery or taking hormone replacement therapies (Mackie 2008). Some scholars find that sex reassignment surgery (SRS) will benefit people, while others argue that transgender people are dissatisfied of their SRS, some possible disappointments arise from the experience of immense discrimination from society (Dewey 2008). Recent studies have shown many effects of taking medical treatments regarding changing sex on biological parts of the body (Goh 1995, Kanhai 2000), but such scholars lack investigation on the long term psychological and emotional effect on the transgender person after taking these treatments. From a blog written by a transgender man, Walt Heyer, we learn that he felt excited changing into a woman at first but eventually regretted his decision and most of his life was spent in sorrow and disappointment. My paper will investigate the reasons of Walt 's regret of undergoing special treatments. What factors are related to the long term satisfaction of transsexual people undergoing SRS? What traits of Walt led to his regret?
Method I started this research project by identifying my topic. Initially, I was interested in the effect of hormones on transgender patients but because of my lack of knowledge in biology, I found it difficult to find any conclusions that I could understand thoroughly related directly to the effect of hormones. Later on, I read about Walt Heyer and his experience on the internet and was inspired by his letter to the Massachusetts Judiciary Committee, where
Zhuting Wang
(#41700113)
Dr Sean Saunders
ASTU 150 (922)
July 18, 2011
Introduction Over the past few decades, many legal barriers to the modification of sexed bodies have been removed in several countries and regions, which has led to the trend in transgender individuals undergoing surgery or taking hormone replacement therapies (Mackie 2008). Some scholars find that sex reassignment surgery (SRS) will benefit people, while others argue that transgender people are dissatisfied of their SRS, some possible disappointments arise from the experience of immense discrimination from society (Dewey 2008). Recent studies have shown many effects of taking medical treatments regarding changing sex on biological parts of the body (Goh 1995, Kanhai 2000), but such scholars lack investigation on the long term psychological and emotional effect on the transgender person after taking these treatments. From a blog written by a transgender man, Walt Heyer, we learn that he felt excited changing into a woman at first but eventually regretted his decision and most of his life was spent in sorrow and disappointment. My paper will investigate the reasons of Walt 's regret of undergoing special treatments. What factors are related to the long term satisfaction of transsexual people undergoing SRS? What traits of Walt led to his regret?
Method I started this research project by identifying my topic. Initially, I was interested in the effect of hormones on transgender patients but because of my lack of knowledge in biology, I found it difficult to find any conclusions that I could understand thoroughly related directly to the effect of hormones. Later on, I read about Walt Heyer and his experience on the internet and was inspired by his letter to the Massachusetts Judiciary Committee, where
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