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Original poster

Elliot Page undergoes “lifesaving” “top surgery”

459 replies

OnWednesdaysWeWearMink · 25/05/2021 15:41

BBC R1 news beat has just reported that Elliot page has undergone “life saving” “top surgery”.

Here is the related web article: www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-57239448

This reporting perpetuates the narrative that people will commit suicide if they don’t get the right sort of treatment. I find it deeply irresponsible. Does anyone know if Samaritans are tackling this sort of coverage in their media guidelines? I’d hope work is going on behind the scenes as they are a fantastic charity. (I assume they are not captured?)

A double mastectomy is usually lifesaving when it comes to breast cancer... so I find calling an elective cosmetic procedure lifesaving pretty insulting. But that’s just me being petty and not the main point.

OP posts:
Original poster
OnWednesdaysWeWearMink · 25/05/2021 17:10

What I am concerned about is irresponsible media reporting that could lead to more suicides. Does anyone know if Samaritans are engaging with news outlets about this?

When someone takes their own life by a jumping from a bridge, Samaritans recommend the media report it as a person falling from a bridge.

Samaritans recommend against romanticising suicide - for example they recommend against “Genie, you’re free now” social posts about Robin William’s death. That sort of post may seem innocent/ kind - but it romanticises taking your life.

I feel this sort of reporting falls under the same category. What is being done to help journalists report responsibly?

I’m not offended or trying to nitpick, I am just concerned and this is a complex issue.

OP posts:
Erikrie · 25/05/2021 17:08

Being transgender is about your inner gender identity. To say that certain genders need to have bodies that appear in a certain way is quite exclusionary.

So what's the difference between a transwoman who still looks like a male, and a male? And for those who wish to use sex segregated services for the female sex, how can we tell?

Body dysmorphia is a separate condition that doesn't require any existence of or change to any gender identity.

Yet they are all lumped under the trans umbrella. You best go and speak to stonewall about that. Sounds to me that their approach to this is transphobic then.

ArabellaScott · 25/05/2021 17:08

weebarra Flowers

Leafstamp · 25/05/2021 17:07

@Collaborate

I think you’d find that there would be similar outrage if any woman had this surgery, other than for actual life saving purposes (breast cancer being the obvious one).

It’s the reporting and statement that it is “life saving” surgery that is causing the outrage. Not especially that a trans person has had this surgery.

RantyAnty · 25/05/2021 17:05

The media likes to sensationalise of course. They don't care about anyone it may affect.

It could have been worded differently.

Nellle · 25/05/2021 17:04

What I do care about is the BBC posting about someone with healthy breasts having a double mastectomy in such a celebratory affirmative way.

It's almost as if this woman/person should be allowed to do what she wants with her own body....

Erikrie · 25/05/2021 17:04

Transphobes choose only one of these.

No transphobes here. Just concerned women with a strong interest in safeguards. And many of the women here do much more than type on keyboards. And because they do much more than that the gender house of cards is toppling. ☺️

RagzReturnsRebooted · 25/05/2021 17:03

@Justhadathought

How is it lifesaving exactly? Surely if someone is suicidal they need psychiatric help not surgery?Please explain

What the surgery does is temporarily displace some intense and dysphoric feelings. This is not the end of the journey, though. The negative feelings that found a focus on the breasts, will now find another outlet. The surgery offers temporary relief from suffering only. And to say it is 'life saving' is hyperbolic, and demeans the phrase.

Also such public celebration and exposure, in itself, cannot be healthy.
It is like watching a young person unravel in full public view. This is what social media and celebrity culture has brought us to.

Exactly my concerns. My relative (a transman) is going abroad to have this surgery next month. Has taken out a loan to do so. I'm concerned that they are taking a surgical route having had barely any counselling (already diagnosed Bipolar and suspected autism plus difficult childhood and Mother died fairly recently) and they are expecting this surgery to somehow 'fix' them. If they're happy afterwards then great, I'll be happy for them. But I'm very concerned that they are embracing their trans identity as the answer to all their problems instead of addressing the many other issues they have going on. It's really hard to support them through this and I'm really struggling with it. I just want them to be happy, but I have so many concerns.
CervixSampler · 25/05/2021 17:03

The pictures in the article show the internal pain externalised. Like self harm puts the pain on the inside on the outside in order to try and make it somehow tangible. Of course this IS self-harm on a huge scale. Very sad.

CardinalLolzy · 25/05/2021 17:00

@Erikrie

but I think it's a bit transphobic to deliberatelyd conflate the two.

Why?

Being transgender is about your inner gender identity. To say that certain genders need to have bodies that appear in a certain way is quite exclusionary. Body dysmorphia is a separate condition that doesn't require any existence of or change to any gender identity.
hauntedcomputer · 25/05/2021 17:00

EP is free to have any surgery available. It doesn't affect me, so I don't care one way or the other. But that doesn't change the fact that it's not a "lifesaving" surgery.

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 25/05/2021 17:00

@Pandoraslastchance

How is it lifesaving?

I had a single mastecomy due to breast cancer and wasn't suitable for immediate reconstruction so I asked for them to do a double mastecomy. Got told no as they won't remove healthy tissue. So I spent 2.5 years with one tit. That played a right fucking number on my mental health I can tell ya.

It's a cosmetic surgery. I'm sick of the suicide baiting that takes place at the moment. If I don't get what I want immediately then I will throw a strop and threaten suicide to get it!! Blackmail anyone?

A while back a MNer who was offered reconstructive surgery post bc surgery turned it down for a year and was then ready to consider it. When she enquired about it her CCG no longer funded it for people like her.

I, too, would benefit from the upcoming distinction between what makes it cosmetic and life-saving for some groups. Especially if some groups would be able to declare an uncontested need for referral (a logical outcome of some organisations' 'vision for the imagined future in which we should all live').

hauntedcomputer · 25/05/2021 16:59

It's insulting to call this surgery lifesaving. Ridiculous and untrue, as well.

Collaborate · 25/05/2021 16:59

@Wannabangbang

It is lifesaving for a trans person. Only on Mn do transphobic people come out for all to see. See. It frequently on these boards.
This is spot on. Why should Elliot Page having elective surgery generate such a response on this site? There are 3 responses people seem to have:
  1. Don't care - irrelevant to my life.
  2. Very happy for them.
  3. This is an outrage. Where's my keyboard?

Transphobes choose only one of these.

Curioushorse · 25/05/2021 16:58

In a previous job my boss was allowed time off for a boob job. She was a male to female trans person. All fine.

BUT IT WAS TEACHING! She was allowed time off during the exam term which would have been utterly unthinkable for anybody else. If anybody in that school had asked for time off for a boob job there is absolutely no way it would have happened.

Every time anybody covered her lessons for those six weeks there was rage.

Erikrie · 25/05/2021 16:56

but I think it's a bit transphobic to deliberatelyd conflate the two.

Why?

PaperbackRider · 25/05/2021 16:56

@Wannabangbang

It is lifesaving for a trans person. Only on Mn do transphobic people come out for all to see. See. It frequently on these boards.
IT isn't though. That's literally the point. You can't just keep repeating it to make it true.
Erikrie · 25/05/2021 16:55

Body dysmorphia is a medical condition

What sort of medical condition do you think it is? It's not a physical condition. And we can't call it a psychiatric condition anymore.

CardinalLolzy · 25/05/2021 16:55

I'm sure this thread won't last too long as it's about an individual in the public eye.

Has Elliott explained why being male requires having a certain type of body? I do feel for them if they have body dysmorphia on top of being transgender but I think it's a bit transphobic to deliberatelyd conflate the two.

You can be a trans man with a "feminine" body and I worry that this is setting some sort of line that there is some sort of matching of gender and bodies that needs to take place. When many trans people have argued the opposite - that any body can have any gender.

Leafstamp · 25/05/2021 16:55

Body dysmorphia is a medical condition

Correct. The recommended treatment is therapy/support groups etc and possibly anti depressants. No mention of surgery or other means of altering the body.

Justhadathought · 25/05/2021 16:54

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Justhadathought · 25/05/2021 16:53

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Tal45 · 25/05/2021 16:53

@lightand

Something has just occured to me.

I used to know a young man who was a goth, pretty well.
He said to me once that I was missing the point about goths.
That it wasnt about the clothes, being a goth was telling the world that that person was in pain.

Is trans the new goth?

Punk, goth, emo, trans. To me they're all about feeling misunderstood, feeling like you don't fit in or you're somehow different or 'wrong', being in pain or causing yourself pain, physical or emotional. This is also why so many children with asd are trans because that narrative generally fits their life.
SoupDragon · 25/05/2021 16:53

Well, this is scraping the barrel of "trans things to complain about".

Jesus.

Justhadathought · 25/05/2021 16:52

How is it lifesaving exactly? Surely if someone is suicidal they need psychiatric help not surgery?Please explain

What the surgery does is temporarily displace some intense and dysphoric feelings. This is not the end of the journey, though. The negative feelings that found a focus on the breasts, will now find another outlet. The surgery offers temporary relief from suffering only. And to say it is 'life saving' is hyperbolic, and demeans the phrase.

Also such public celebration and exposure, in itself, cannot be healthy.
It is like watching a young person unravel in full public view. This is what social media and celebrity culture has brought us to.