Glee, Gender Dysphoria, SRS (Sexual Reassignment Surgery), and treating Trans-people as people who "Suffer" from Being Transgender

Yesterday, a post on my facebook newsfeed announced that Glee's Coach Shannon Beiste "suffered from Gender Dysphoria" and planned to "Undergo Gender Reassignment Surgery." I only watched the first two seasons of Glee, so I have no idea what Beiste has been like lately, nor do I know much about the other transgender character I have heard about. Interestingly, when Coach Beiste was first introduced to the show, I quickly noticed that her actions and mannerisms were much closer to a masculine gender than a typical western feminine gender. I was absolutely convinced she was transgender and maybe was even a post-op male-to-female transgender woman. Looking back, I don't think she was supposed to be trans originally, but I am very happy that they eventually wrote her this way. (I am using she/her pronouns for Beiste, because I am not sure how she identifies, but note that this [fictional] character might prefer masculine pronouns).

http://www.people.com/article/glee-coach-beiste-gender-reassignment-dot-marie-jones

Before I continue, I want to point out that I am in no way criticizing the show as a whole for its portrayal of trans people. I have three reasons; first, I don't watch the show and have no idea what I'm talking about; second, I am told that overall, the show (while not perfect) has presented trans-people in a somewhat realistic way; last, at least they ARE portraying trans people, which is way better than most shows.

All that being said, because many people are very new to seeing real portrayals of trans-people, I think it is very important to correct/clarify some blatant misconceptions. And because I haven't watched the episode, for all I know the misconceptions merely come from the numerous articles I have read about the show, but either way, the information is out there.

Gender Dysphoria, which has replaced (and/or augmented) the terms transsexualism, Gender Identity Disorder (GID), and Sexual Identity Disorder, is a very complicated term to unpack, because it often carries with it the misconceptions associated with all of these terms.  I am not an expert, nor do I really want to spend all of my time analyzing outdated terms, so I am going to keep my explanation very brief.

The term Gender Dysphoria itself refers to an overall feeling of dissatisfaction with the gender that has been assigned to them. For example, I was assigned male at birth and my masculine man gender was automatically assigned to me by everyone in society because of that sex determination. I feel extreme dysphoria with the gender assigned to me...which is why I identify as transgender and reject a typical masculine identity. That, in its most basic sense, is what Gender Dysphoria refers to.

I realize that I have yet to write out my “What is Gender? How is it different from sex?” talk for this blog, so for the utterly unfamiliar with gender issues, here is a few sentence explanation: (Biological) Sex refers to the sexual dimorphism of our (and other) species. Sex refers to sperm or eggs, penis or vagina, testosterone or estrogen, statistically more or less muscle mass, etc. When I use the terms male or female, I am generally referring to biological sex. Gender refers to the cultural side of sexual (or genderal?) dimorphism. Gender refers to pink or blue, dresses or pants, long hair or short hair, better at sports or worse at sports (supposedly), stay home and take care of kids or go out and earn money (traditionally), Barbies or Hot Wheels, etc. When I use the terms man or women, I am generally referring to the accepted masculine and feminine cultural categories. There are quite a few behavioral differences between men and women which are arguably both sex and gender, but way too much effort has been spent trying to divide the overlap, so I have no desire to address them here. Also, all of my examples are entirely binary (dark/light, cold/warm, etc.). I did that because that is how most people tend to understand and for the most part, traditional gender roles do follow a binary, at least in the minds of most people. However, sex is by no means as binary as most people think and is actually quite fluid in our species (but that is a whole other explanation). Ok, the sex/gender explanation above on scratches the surface, but I had to explain a little in order to explain what I actually wanted to say.

I hope that this short explanation of gender makes some of what I want to say kind of obvious. First, the currently used term “Gender Reassignment Surgery” is extremely problematic. Surgery is not how you change your gender. Even “Sexual Reassignment Surgery” is problematic, because sex is WAY more than just genitals. So really, “Gender Reassignment Surgery” is really just “Genital Reassignment Surgery.” I’m not saying that GRS (or SRS) is not extremely important to many transgender people, but it doesn’t reassign your gender by any means, and I think it is a little dangerous to imply that it does. It implies that the number one cause of being trans is merely having the wrong genitals. Which…could not be further from the truth (well…arguably). Changing your genitals is no cure-all for trans people.

In fact, many transgender people who identify with the opposite gender they were assigned never want to transition their genitals. It can be entirely secondary to what they really care about. Because gender is inherently cultural and we (almost) never see strangers' genitals in public, being a (cultural) woman doesn’t actually seem too much easier if a trans woman got SRS.

But yes, many transgender people choose to undergo SRS and (most) are very happy with their decision. That being said, when transitioning your body to another sex/gender, genital reassignment is very late (probably the last thing) in the process. In fact, most insurance companies  require years of not only hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but also of psychological counseling before getting SRS. In order to actually get the surgery, a second psychological expert might even have to review the treatment you received from your therapist/psychiatrist. On top of that, up until recently, you were required to entirely live as your chosen gender before they would even consider surgery. Obviously, that last part would be very problematic for a non-binary person like me who never plans on fully living as a regular man or woman (at least not anymore).

So...a trans person who just came out to their co-workers probably has a long time to go before considering surgery (in the vast majority of cases). It probably wouldn't be a central topic of conversation (that they brought up) on the day they came out (unless they had done absolutely no research or received absolutely no counseling).

On a slightly different note, a lot of trans people have a huge problem with the term "Gender Identity Disorder," because it implies that who you are is a "disorder." I completely understand, but don't personally have an issue with the term. Here's why: Being transgender is something that should be treated. It doesn't need to be professional mental or medical treatment, but if someone is having a gender identity crisis, they should get help, even if it is just from knowledgeable and concerned friends who can help a transgender person transition and find a new place in society. If no one ever talks to other people about being transgender, there can be enormous psychological issues that can come up. It does need to be treated. In fact, I see it as a very similar way as an anxiety disorder.

If only one human lived on earth and they had an anxiety disorder, they wouldn't have an anxiety disorder. In and of itself, an anxiety disorder is merely a slightly different brain chemistry than the statistically average person. So if there was only one person, they would be statistically average and wouldn't have a disorder.  Yes, compared to the average person, I (yes, I have a [pretty bad] anxiety disorder) feel way more anxious, but everyone feel anxious at times.  It is all relative to other people. Also, I firmly believe that my anxiety disorder, while a pain in the ass, has shaped who I am in very positive ways and it is an inseparable part of me.

In the same way, if only one person lived on this planet, they could not have a Gender Identity Disorder. They couldn't be any different than the typical person, because they would be the typical person! There cannot be a GID if there are no well-accepted gender roles to reject. Transgender people couldn't be "transgender" (literally "cross-gender") if there was no "cisgender" (literally "normal-gender).

That's why I don't like when I hear people say that others "suffer" from Gender Dysphoria, GID, whatever. I love who I am. I actually get extreme joy out of exploring all of the in-between spaces of gender. I by NO means suffer from me being me. All (well...most) of the pain involved with being a trans person comes from how cisgender people react to you (whether it is judging look or a violent hate crime).

Transgender people don't suffer from being transgender. They suffer from being different than cisgender people. It's a small distinction, but a very important one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with transgender people. The problem is with how cisgender people see transgender people and how they often treat them.