The Lawfulness of Gender Reassignment Surgery

2000

Gender reassignment procedures are performedfor the treatment ofthe gender dysphoria syndrome (transsexualism). Although this modality of treatment is therapeutic in nature and therefore not contra bonos mores, the legal status ofthe post-operative transsexual remains that ofhis/her previous sex. The purpose ofthe gender reassignment procedures is that of acceptance within the community as a person ofthe sex indicated by his/her changed appearance. Nothing will be achieved by the successful completion oftreatment ifthe person's changed sexual appearance is not recognised by the law as a change in sexual status as well. The law, by keeping aloofofthe problem ofthe post-operative transsexual, has created a legal "vacuum" where there is social andjudicial acceptance ofreassignment procedures, but a refusal to give legal effect to the change in status that the transsexual obsessively desires and the operation simulates. This work will analyse the medical issues associated with gender reassignment procedures. The legal status ofthe transsexual after reassignment procedures will be explored, and in doing so, the human rights violations with which such people have to contend, will be highlighted. The constitutionality ofthe lack ofa legal recognition ofthe post-operative transsexual's sexual status will be examined. It will be shown that there are compelling reasons for legislation to be introduced as a matter ofurgency to safeguard the fundamental rights ofthe post-operative transsexual.

Journal of Sociology, 1994

Sex-reassignment surgery is a technique used to alter the genital structure of an individual so that their genitals more closely resemble the genitals of persons of the opposite sex. It is a surgical operation used for individuals who are born with an ambiguous genital structure, and it is used for adult persons who wish to change their genital sex (transsexuals). This paper will focus on the latter situation 1 . 'Operations on transsexuals have been performed in Australia since the late 1950s though, according to Giles, the earliest recorded case of surgery in the world may have been 1930 in Weimar Germany at Dresden (1989, 292).

American Journal of Psychiatry, 1982

Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues

Transsexualism (or Gender Identity Disorder/Gender Dysphoria) is a relative uncommon condition, but many hormonal and surgical treatments are available to help transsexuals remodel their bodies according to their sense of who they really are. However, those treatments may be invasive and irreversible. Well-informed and thoughtful decision-making about which, if any, to undertake, is therefore of the greatest importance. Yet there are many uncertainties, ranging from whether the condition is a disease for which medical procedures are appropriate, to the long-term risks of particular treatments. And, the intense mental pain that may accompany it may also interfere with patients’ capacity to choose treatments that are in their best interests. So the burning bioethics questions are whether therapies of this kind should be available, and if so, who should control access to them. Given the concerns about safety and efficacy of current approaches, it is also worth asking whether a true remedy might exist and what it might look like. I speculate that eradicating the sex/gender system might do so.

Clinical Ethics, 2017

A UK doctor was recently acquitted of charges of reinstating a variety of female genital mutilation after delivering a child. In this paper, I contend that this incident reflects a broader confusion concerning the ethico-legal status of non-therapeutic genital surgeries for children and adults, which are not derivable from tenets of medical ethics, but rather violate them. I argue that medical professionals have an obligation to announce and address this confusion in order to motivate legislative reform, since the inconsistency of the current law entrenches the underlying sexism and ethnocen-trism upon which its sense depends. Without convincing arguments for (a) condoning male circumcision and female cosmetic genital surgery and for (b) treating adult women of colour as lacking the capacity to consent, the current legislation stands in need of urgent revision.

Social Studies of Science

Throughout much of recorded history, societies that assigned rights and duties based on sex were confounded by people with unclear sex. For the sake of maintaining social and legal order in those contexts, legal systems assigned these people to what they figured was the ‘most dominant’ sex. Then, in mid-19th century United States, a new classification mechanism emerged: sex-assignment surgery, which was imagined by some surgeons to ‘fix’ one’s physical and legal sex status permanently. Other surgeons, however, fiercely opposed the new practice. This article traces the controversy around sex-assignment surgery through three high-profile cases published in US medical journals from 1849 to 1886. Its central argument is that the more general effort to transform surgery into a scientific field helped legitimate the practice of sex-assignment surgery. Although such surgery was subject to intense moral criticism because it was thought to breach the laws of men and nature, over time, these ...

International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding

Sex change that is carried out through a medical process or commonly called sex change surgery, invites pros and cons in the community. The purpose of this study is to formulate regulations regarding the formulation of legal provisions regarding sex change that can reflect justice, benefit, and legal certainty as well as support the welfare of Transgender and Ambiguous Genitalia sufferers. This research is a normative legal research with philosophical, legislative, conceptual,case and comparative approaches. The analysis technique uses descriptive, comparative, evaluative and argumentative techniques. The results of the study indicate that the formulation of legal provisions regarding gender change is the use of the phrase the right to live in physical and spiritual prosperity in the formulation of legal norms as a large group that can reach various things, and the prohibition against plastic surgery to change identity, except for patients who have received court decision.

BioMed research international, 2018

Gender affirmation surgery remains one of the greatest challenges in transgender medicine. In recent years, there have been continuous discussions on bioethical aspects in the treatment of persons with gender dysphoria. Gender reassignment is a difficult process, including not only hormonal treatment with possible surgery but also social discrimination and stigma. There is a great variety between countries in specified tasks involved in gender reassignment, and a complex combination of medical treatment and legal paperwork is required in most cases. The most frequent bioethical questions in transgender medicine pertain to the optimal treatment of adolescents, sterilization as a requirement for legal recognition, role of fertility and parenthood, and regret after gender reassignment. We review the recent literature with respect to any new information on bioethical aspects related to medical treatment of people with gender dysphoria.

Feminist Legal Studies, 2000

This article examines law's representation of embodied female identity in the context of two medical law cases, R. v. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, ex parte Blood and B v. Croydon Health Authority. Through an examination of contemporary critiques of female embodiment, in particular the work of Judith Butler, two discursive strategies are suggested for their potential to reconfigure the sexed subject within legal discourse. Firstly, the act of transgressionthe flight from purportedly fixed subject positions -can be read in the case of Blood and calls into question law's ability to contain and sustain sexed identity as prediscursive and immutable. Secondly, the exposure of the historical formation of the female subjects of legal discourse, demonstrated through a genealogical reading of B v. Croydon Health Authority, contributes to feminist theoretical project to destabilise traditional gender categories and enable us to think beyond the category of 'Woman'.