The Student Room Group

Should trans people be allowed to receive free reassignment surgery on the NHS?

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Original post by Robby2312
You're right that is a ridiculous comparison.But what about Body integrity disorder?That disorder makes people feel like their limbs are not part of them.Should we allow them to have ampuatations?
Honestly this is a difficult issue,on the one hand I feel that nobody would choose to be transgenser so its definitely not a choice.But on the other hand I think it is a mental illness.Its not really compatable to being gay because gay people dont want to mutilate their own bodies.Another thing I disagree with is that sombody is in the wrong body sorry but you are your body.You and your body are not seperate things, they're one and the same.


Tbh I don't personally know any trans people who use the phrase 'in the wrong body' unless they're explaining it to cis people. It's commonly used in the media to sensationalise trans people's experiences. Some people might say their body feels 'wrong' or certain parts of their body are 'wrong' but most trans people accept that these are the bodies we have. Some of us need to make some changes to our bodies to make them fit better, to take away things that don't belong or add things that ought to be there.
Original post by SmallTownGirl
Tbh I don't personally know any trans people who use the phrase 'in the wrong body' unless they're explaining it to cis people. It's commonly used in the media to sensationalise trans people's experiences. Some people might say their body feels 'wrong' or certain parts of their body are 'wrong' but most trans people accept that these are the bodies we have. Some of us need to make some changes to our bodies to make them fit better, to take away things that don't belong or add things that ought to be there.


PRSOM
Original post by SmallTownGirl
There are actually many reasons why surgeries that are purely cosmetic are provided on the NHS. People who have severe scarring due to burns are often given medical help to reduce that scarring. People with facial disfigurements which severe affect their mental health are often given cosmetic surgery to reduce the appearance of them. Cis women who've had a mastectomy due to breast cancer are offered a reconstruction.

Maybe you believe that none of these things should be available on the NHS. In which case I'd tell you that you would be wrong, but at least you're consistent. But if you do think these are acceptable but funding medical transitions is wrong, then you're just an awful transphobic person...


The medical procedures you've mentioned do not fall under the category of cosmetic surgery, but more so reconstructive plastic surgery..to enable someone to resemble a normal appearance. I'm fine with such surgeries.

I was waiting for you to throw around the T word. According to your logic, boob jobs, nose jobs, botox and liposuction should all be free on the NHS.
Original post by zippyRN
oh dear

thankyou for demonstrating your utter lack of knowledge of the process , pathway and end outcomes of transition ...


it is interesting that you feel the need to refer to treatment for transpeople as cosmetic , it;s almost as though you are auditioning for a 'journalist's' job with the Daily Sexpest or Heily Fail


It is cosmetic.
Original post by cherryred90s
It is cosmetic.


thankyou once again for confirming your transphobia and ignorance.
Original post by cherryred90s
The medical procedures you've mentioned do not fall under the category of cosmetic surgery, but more so reconstructive plastic surgery..to enable someone to resemble a normal appearance. I'm fine with such surgeries.

I was waiting for you to throw around the T word. According to your logic, boob jobs, nose jobs, botox and liposuction should all be free on the NHS.


Actually, everything I mentioned is entirely cosmetic. They're done to improve people's mental health but don't change the functioning of the body. Bottom surgery for trans people (which is generally what people are talking about) isn't cosmetic at all. It entirely changes the way that body part functions.

And again, being unhappy with wrinkles is entirely different to physical dysphoria.
Original post by zippyRN
thankyou once again for confirming your transphobia and ignorance.


Define transphobia.
I suppose the NHS is transphobic too
Original post by SmallTownGirl
Actually, everything I mentioned is entirely cosmetic. They're done to improve people's mental health but don't change the functioning of the body. Bottom surgery for trans people (which is generally what people are talking about) isn't cosmetic at all. It entirely changes the way that body part functions.

And again, being unhappy with wrinkles is entirely different to physical dysphoria.


Surgery to repair badly burned skin or to reconstruct a breast is not done to improve mental health. It is done to improve appearance.

So, do you think that all cosmetic surgeries (such as the ones I've mentioned) should be free too?
Original post by SmallTownGirl
Tbh I don't personally know any trans people who use the phrase 'in the wrong body' unless they're explaining it to cis people. It's commonly used in the media to sensationalise trans people's experiences. Some people might say their body feels 'wrong' or certain parts of their body are 'wrong' but most trans people accept that these are the bodies we have. Some of us need to make some changes to our bodies to make them fit better, to take away things that don't belong or add things that ought to be there.


Do you not find something deeply troubling about needing to change your body to fit society's expectations rather than working to deconstruct society's prejudices and expectations? Once we live in a society where there is no pressure, judgment or any other negativity associated with failing to uphold traditional gender norms - e.g. there is no expectation for someone who is biologically male to be of the male gender - don't you think those whose sex and gender are not 'aligned' will cease to experience dysphoria? If gender and sex are different things, I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the concept of the two being 'aligned' or not.
Original post by cherryred90s
The medical procedures you've mentioned do not fall under the category of cosmetic surgery, but more so reconstructive plastic surgery..to enable someone to resemble a normal appearance. I'm fine with such surgeries.

I was waiting for you to throw around the T word. According to your logic, boob jobs, nose jobs, botox and liposuction should all be free on the NHS.


What about 'boob jobs' for people who have breasts of different sizes? These are not reconstructive; there's nothing technically wrong with the breasts, but it distresses the person. These are offered in cases I've seen. What's your opinion?
Original post by cherryred90s
Define transphobia.
I suppose the NHS is transphobic too


Sorry, but why is the NHS transphobic?
Original post by cherryred90s
The medical procedures you've mentioned do not fall under the category of cosmetic surgery, but more so reconstructive plastic surgery..to enable someone to resemble a normal appearance. I'm fine with such surgeries.


Still seems like a waste to me in a lot of cases and I've been offered reconstructive plastic surgery on the NHS.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Ezme39
What about 'boob jobs' for people who have breasts of different sizes? These are not reconstructive; there's nothing technically wrong with the breasts, but it distresses the person. These are offered in cases I've seen. What's your opinion?


I've addressed this but yes, I'm happy with it being on the NHS. It's done to have normal looking appearance, I wouldn't call that cosmetic. It's like someone being born with a wonky nose. They'd be offered free surgery to make their nose look like a normal human nose. Someone who already has a perfectly normal nose wouldn't be offered treatment simply because they are unhappy with the shape/size of it
Original post by dingleberry jam
Still seems like a waste to me in a lot of cases and I've been offered reconstructive plastic surgery on the NHS.


Fair enough, entirely your choice
The simple answer? No. There's so many necessary treatments that aren't
available on the NHS due to lack of funding, including a treatment for MS that
alleviates *******ity in its sufferers. MS sufferers can't get this very necessary
treatment on the NHS-so why should a medically unnecessary procedure be on
the NHS?

There's been multiple studies (including one conducted by the man that pioneered
the treatment at John Hopkins in America) that found that SRS does not actually
help trans people at all. The rates of suicide are in fact higher post-surgery.

Gender dysphoria is and should be treated as a mental health disorder. We're
moving towards a dangerous place right now. Feeding dangerous drugs (which
can cause various cancers and lead to infertility) to people, and encouraging
people to have life-changing and irreversible surgeries rather than actually treating
the underlying illness. Instead of treating the illness, we treat the symptom which will only alleviate the problem temporarily.
(edited 7 years ago)
It sounds to me that being stuck in a body you don't feel is yours would be like hell, day in day out of not getting to be you. Your sex is one of the most basic things about life, it definitely should be changed for free if it's wrong
Id rather have someone have gender reassignment surgery on the NHS than a boob job or lipo or gastric bands (etc).
Original post by cherryred90s
I've addressed this but yes, I'm happy with it being on the NHS. It's done to have normal looking appearance, I wouldn't call that cosmetic. It's like someone being born with a wonky nose. They'd be offered free surgery to make their nose look like a normal human nose. Someone who already has a perfectly normal nose wouldn't be offered treatment simply because they are unhappy with the shape/size of it


Hmm, I'm not sure there is a fundamental difference there. The difference seems to be in measure rather than in principle and where you draw the line is kind of a grey area.
Original post by cherryred90s
Fair enough, entirely your choice


Yeah, nice to have the choice i guess, i'd just much rather have had the choice not to wait 10+ years for a crohn's diagnosis or the choice to have children or the choice to not walk into a mental health inpatients ward to find a family member dying on the floor through being denied vital medication with no staff in sight with any more of an idea than myself what to do.
Original post by Implication
Hmm, I'm not sure there is a fundamental difference there. The difference seems to be in measure rather than in principle and where you draw the line is kind of a grey area.


What I am saying is in reference to someone who quoted me saying that surgery for a burns patients is cosmetic and comparable to gender reassignment surgery, well it's not. The reason is that the surgery they undergo often includes skin grafts to reconstruct the affected area in order to make it look as if they had never been burned in the first place. It is to resemble a normal appearance

A trans person may have a body that they are unhappy with. Their genitalia hasn't been damaged in any way, they can still have children etc, but they would just prefer that it could be altered into something that they would be much happier with. This is where I start comparing such surgeries to the likes of a boob job. Let's take a woman with 32b cup breasts. Her breasts are perfectly fine, no inverted nipples, no scarring, no lumps/tumours, no infections. She's just as capable as a woman with 36DD cups to effectively breastfeed her future children. Her issue is that she's unhappy with the size of her breasts, so much so that it depresses her and she would be happy with a bigger cup. should she have the surgery if she believes it would make her happier? Yes. Should she expect the tax payer to fund it? No. This is how I feel about gender reassignment surgery.

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