Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism

by Patrick Califia

 

Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism

By Patrick Califia

Cleis Press

 

 

The growing discomfort one feels with his or her body is a natural event in life. At times we all felt like an alien in our body, perhaps when we were ill, in severe pain, or when the onset of puberty strikes and we want to be taller, thinner or have more muscles. However, for a significant many, this alienated body doesn’t go away with time, or with self-confidence. These members of society see their body, not only as alien, but probably as monstrous because they honestly feel they were born in the wrong body and, most important, the wrong sex.

In his book Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism, female-to male transsexual (FTM) Patrick Califia examines the relationship that transsexuals feel during childhood, adolescence and as adults struggling to come to terms with their body, sexual identity and gender diaspora and the historical suffering transsexuals face legally, culturally and socially to find social and self-acceptance.

The preface and introduction of the book details the bittersweet agony and triumph of most transsexuals. The feeling of being in constant discomfort of their bodies from childhood is a common occurrence. The need to be not only recognized by their partners as the member of the opposite sex for intimate purposes is not for fantasy but what they want in reality -- to not feel violated or faking sexual liaisons. For some, the reaction in the heterosexual community is that they are gay sinners trying to change their sexual identity to defend their sodomy acts, while some in the gay community see them as the ones keeping normal gay men and lesbians from selling the notion that homosexuality isn’t weird or abnormal. Even worse, the medical community has strict guidelines as to who can even be considered for becoming the opposite sex; puts the patient through rigorous psychiatric and mental evaluations, and, in the past and even some today, refuse to grant the operation to some for religious and moral reasons of their own.

Just when transsexuals could reach no lower in social standing in any community, they are often abandoned by partners who fell in love with them as one gender; lose family and friends, and are scapegoated by gays and lesbians, ultra left-wing feminists, religious zealots, politicians and medical doctors who object to the notion that anyone could feel that they are the wrong gender and desire to make a transition to the opposite gender.

It is in the political arena that we find that legal help to these citizens is rare and often struck down. For example, did you know that a FTM or male to female (MTF) transsexual won’t necessarily be able to change their IDs or birth certificates to the new sex? Some states still require them to use the public restroom of the previous sex. They also can have their children taken away from them for psychological reasons or, worse, not be allowed to marry legally. If they do happen to get married, they are in danger of having the marriage annulled, depending on where they live and the state’s constitution and law.

In the religious arena, the phrase, “God doesn’t make mistakes,” best summarizes the point of view that sex changes are wrong. In reality, God doesn’t make mistakes but people often do, given their knowledge or ignorance, depending on the subject. Inter-sexed people exist. This is what most people don’t know. People are born in this world with any combination of both gender’s reproductive organs/tissue. The book analyzes this overlooked community.

The gender-literate community realizes that we are all born with some degree of masculinity and femininity, or both, called

androgyny, regardless of race, class or sex. Califia’s most profound information speaks of what may be the third sex. The point Califia makes is that gender is relevant to everyone and that the idea of the medical and psychiatric specialist deciding who is and isn’t ready to live in the opposite sex is dangerous, not only from a sexual or

gendered way, but from a historical point of view that not long ago allowed the same medical community to call homosexuality a medical problem of dynamic proportions cured by intense psychotherapy and medication.

Other interesting tidbits of the book include the life stories of some of the first transsexuals and how their life took on a role of spectacle. Here the author examines how the public’s fascination of transsexuals came into being and, in a system of white patriarchal supremacy, found MTFs more noteworthy than FTMs because these men gave up that system to be women, who in the Freudian point of view are literally castrated men. Remember, there were not many hormone treatments then and the few available were harder to come by. Medical doctors performing such an operation existed only outside of the United States and were terribly expensive forcing some to become prostitutes to pay for the operation. Which in turn made more furor for those proclaiming transsexuals as outcast, morally corrupt and insane. The book then goes on to report detailed accounts of scientists willing to take on such a role and their findings to better help change the sex of individuals wishing it.

The next chapters in the book illustrate first-hand accounts of gender revolutionists, feminists and religious, left-wingers who sought to overturn any right afforded this group of people. Alienation and abandonment are the key themes in this section devoted entirely to transphobia in feminist and fundamentalists. Fundamentalists argue that changing your sex is a crime of Sodom and Gomorrah proportions and a crisis to a life of sin and pure evil. They think that about all gays but gays and lesbians agree in part to the documented doctrines of separate, unequal, and unwelcome remarks from some early pioneers of the gay community, as well as heterosexist feminists, who object to the idea that MTF transsexuals are women. This ultimately does nothing but cause a rift bigger than the one already existing that keeps the system of the status quo a top the ladder of gendered benefits, luxuries and laws. It is the equivalent of many lesbian feminists being overlooked and thrown out of or unwelcome to the feminist revolution of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The enemies of this group of people also are within its own community. It is further documented that texts and speeches at

various events on how transsexuals are thought of as actually raping the concept of womanhood, because they were born male in the first place, adds insult to injury that FTM transsexuals aren’t really regarded as male because they were originally female and, thus, lacked authentic phallic power.

The book is powerful in delivery and message and even cites how these negative images of transsexuals and the legal rights they need can be achieved ultimately by working together with every community and targeting the real enemies, those who set back rights for all out of fear, ignorance or hate. The book is a must have for those interested in the politics of gender and sexuality. It also is very informative to those seeking to be transsexuals or to better understand their dilemma; it also explains the differences of the transsexual and the cross-dresser. Full of scholarly works and a cited bibliography, I can’t imagine a course in gender studies without it.

(as published in Family & Friends Magazine, October 2004, by Wansel Greenberry, columnist)