A post-op

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:43:55 -0500

As a post-op transsexual woman, I have to say that anyone who "transitions" while in prison needs to be very very carefully screened. I have my own theories: Any person who made the gender change (regardless of whether or not they have had genital surgery) should be able to continue hormone treatments and should be able to finish thier transition. I know my life would totally suck if it were not for my estrogen. It affects more than body tissue, it affects the brain as well. Estrogen therapy makes me feel more balanced mentally. Any person who claims "I will commit suicide unless I get so and so" seriously needs to be examined. Yes for the right person, this surgery is life saving. It was for me. But I never once said, give me the op or I will "off" myself. That's a sure sign of other mental disorders perhaps disorders that eclipse gender identity issues. And trust me, to get this op requires the approval of 2 shrinks, an endocrinologist (the doctor who administers the hormones) and a willing surgeon(who doesn't feel that the potential surgical applicant is not a crackpot). It's not so easy to get. I would take my theory one step further and say that anyone who was already living as a woman before prison should be held in a women's prison, and vice versa. Given enough time, contra-sex hormone therapy has a destructive effect on the existing gonads (meaning preganancies etc are not an issue). I have in my life met a great many homeless transsexual women who are rejected by thier families. With nowhere to live and no options, there is simply life "on the streets". What kind of signal does a society want to send about some of it's most vulnerable citizens? The point here being that there are a great many non-violent offenders in our prison system. Once they are in, all they know is violence and destruction. And anyone who is feminine in a hyper-masucline environment is not going to survive for very long without giving in to the system of oppression. A transsexual woman who is arrested for prosititution, for example, and then thrown into a male prison is in a very grave danger of either allowing forced sex or die. No sane person would ever stick a female-at-birth woman in a men's prison, so why should it be different for transsexual women? Once they are out, all they know is violence, rape and beatings are okay. Isn't the purpose of prison to "reform" a person, so that they will never commit a crime again? Or to make them so numb to violence that they continue a life of crime once they are out? A Massachusetts post-op (who prefers to remain anonymous)

Bostonist: Suing for a Sex Change: Will Mass. Inmate Prevail?

A post-op