If men and women are exactly alike, why do they need these operations — then expensive post-op training:
The differences in word choice are rarely more evidence than in the how-to-give-directions project. The teacher tells clients to give directions on getting from point A to point B. Then they get handouts that compare male directions to those given by females. Women use landmarks, while men use a compass. A woman might say: “When you get to the red house with the blue shutters, take a right, go three miles. You’ll go past the store, you’ll see a cornfield. You’ll see a beautiful fire station. It’s new, you know, they just built it last week. Then you turn left.” A man would say: “Go west three miles, take a left at this road, go four miles, take a right.”
UPDATE — thanks to the person on Twitter who sent me this, which reinforces my belief that these people are mentally ill and need help, not mutilation:
Special Note to Those Thinking About a Sex Change, by Danielle Berry
Don’t do it! That’s my advice. (…)
That’s advice I wish someone had given me. I had the sex change, I “pass” fine, my career is good but you can’t imagine the number of times I’ve wished I could go back and see if there was another way. Despite following the rules and being as honest as I could with the medical folks at each stage, nobody stopped me and said “Are you honest to God absolutely sure this is the ONLY path for you?!” To the contrary, the voices were all cheerfully supportive of my decision.
I can speak the transgender party line that I was a female trapped in a male body and I remember feeling this way since I was 4. But, it’s never that easy if you look at it sincerely and without preconception. There’s little question that a mid-life crisis, a divorce and a cancer scare were involved in at least the timing of my sex-change decision. To be completely honest at this point (3 yrs post-op) is not easy, however, I’m not sure I would do it again.
I’m now concerned that much of what I took as a gender dysfunction might have been nothing more than a neurotic sexual obsession.
