Errors in Modern Gender
Lee on Feb 19 2008 at 5:59 pm | Filed under: Around the Web
Meet Alan Finch (). Alan became Helen Finch at 21, through sexual reassignment surgery…and then became Alan again when he was thirty. As you can see above, the results of his original surgery were extraordinarily effective. But Alan has decided he was misdiagnosed as suffering from gender identity disorder, and is now suing the clinic that treated him for “surgically mutilating” him. Alan claims what he needed instead was simple psychotherapy. While a tragic predicament, it’s abhorrent that someone should seek to punish physicians for what was clearly an unforced free choice in a free society. Plus…I do get the nagging feeling in looking at Alan’s photographs, that we may be hearing from him again in ten years, suing his psychotherapist.
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It seems likely to me that someone who thinks a change will make them happy, isn’t looking in the right place for happiness.
One of the comments after the video said that women who get breast implants so that their outside matches their internal image of themselves are happier with the results… I don’t know that most people are. You watch those plastic surgery shows and some of the people getting nose jobs and implants and tucks never seem to be satisfied.
I find it very interesting that a you Tube video about Alan Finch has been posted. I have been following his story for the past two years and nearly read everything about his fascinating but very sad story on the web. I do not think the surgeon was at fault but rather the evaluators who allowed him to go for surgery in 1988. Mr. Finch failed the first psychological test for srs; results suggested that his masculinity was above average. He was disappointed about the results at the time because he desperately wanted to become Helen. He then retook the test and forged his answers to qualify for surgery. Why did his evaluators authorize him to redo the test? They knew deep down inside that he didn’t have any female identity and that he was thus not a true transsexual. Mr. Finch found a report written by one of his evaluators in 1996 claiming he didn’t have a female identity. Thus, he had a case. He was wrong about wanting surgery but his evaluators as well.He was wrongly diagnosed as a transsexual.
That’s what worries me, Veronica. There is so much today that seems to encourage the idea that even children should be supported and, basically, identified as transgender because little boys want to wear fancy clothes or little girls don’t care to play with dolls. And how many teenagers feel like an alien in the wrong body?
It’s good that society is more open to those who are transgender or transsexual but supporting people in their desire to transition supports them in changes that can’t be undone again, particularly for men who transition to female. How *do* evaluators test for identity? And if Finch can forge his answers, could any sufficiently well-read person forge his or her answers?
Synova, I do share your concerns about children and teenagers who seem to be easily confused about their identity in today’s society. I do not believe that society’s views towards transgendered men and women are improving at all though. The proof is that studies reveal that most of them still live in secrecy; hiding to friends and co-workers the fact that they were once of the opposite gender. The minority of transgender individuals who are upfront with who they are often classify themselves as members of a third sex, thus neither male nor female. This stand prevents others who are transgendered to integrate into society as either male or female because society does not view them as male or female but as members of a 3rd sex. Consequently, many choose secrecy. It’s a vicious circle. Moreover, many comments about Finch’s case on YouTube are homophobic and transphobic.
Incompetence is as present in that field as in any other medical field. Some individuals will clearly have a transsexual disorder but specialists will prevent them from transitioning. Conversely, others won’t have this disorder at all but will be accepted for hormones and surgery. It’s hard to say how evaluators test for identity. This may vary from country to country. According to a book I read on the topic, they inquire about the patient’s past and present, their motivations and goals, etc. I believe any sufficiently well-read person could forge their answers to qualify for transition. Scary, isn’t it?