Elliot Page undergoes “lifesaving” “top surgery”

@Novelusername "it's not surprising that they would want to opt out."

Page could have quit the industry once they reached adulthood. There must be thousands of young actors who would love to be doing what Page said they found so agonising - so why not just quit the public eye and the male gaze and go and work on a ranch or something? If you're someone like a royal prince then ducking out of public life is really hard but actors can simply quit, go off, lead a quiet life, and at that relatively young age start again, retrain doing something new and - crucially - not in an industry that is so much geared around how you look!

So in what section is it OK to discuss women cutting off their healthy body parts and being celebrated as role models for it?

Do you not think that we care, desperately care, about the well-being of all young people? Because I do. I can't tell you how much I care for anyone suffering distress but for many of them, having a double mastectomy will cause them more distress or at best won't alleviate their distress because it wasn't the underlying problem.

We care. That's why we're all here posting about it.

I genuinely just feel very sorry for Page. I always thought of them as a great actor and enjoyed their performances. When Page came out as a lesbian I thought it was a very moving speech and you could see how they had suffered by having to force themselves in the public eye in a way that was inauthentic to them. As a female lesbian child star, growing up with all that pressure to be sexy Hollywood jailbait, having your appearance constantly scrutinised, being held to impossible standards, it's not surprising that they would want to opt out. In seeing interviews with Page they seem like a very vulnerable, unstable and disturbed individual, and I'm honestly not saying that with any malice. I genuinely hope their transition brings them some peace, but it feels like a quick fix panacea for all their distress. The way celebs like Jameela Jamil cheer this on will give Page some affirmation, and they'll tell you that you can be anything you want to be in Lala Land, but I feel sad for Page because you can't actually change sex, they'll always be fooling themselves. Most women are not attracted to men who are 5'2" and have the bodies of anorexic teenage boys and a very feminine face. And a vagina.

I cannot believe anyone thinks it's ok to cut off healthy organs. Let's see how 'Elliot' feels in 5-10 years time. I don't believe all their problems have been solved

Angrymum So sorry about your friend. How awful. for you and your family.

I do agree people underestimate how badly wrong surgery can go. For example, nerves getting cut by accident.

How did the trans community mange to make such big waves from such a small section of the population? Where did it start? Does anyone know the answer. I’ve googled but nothing!

Angry, I'm glad your DD pulled through, and I'm sorry about your friend.

Trying to treat body dysmorphia (mental illness) by changing the body seems a really odd approach, to me. Why is it not treated the same way as dysmorphia in anorexia is treated?

Not said in a horrible way but he looks more like a boy than a man. Yet as a women she looked like an adult. I can’t get my head around it!

I don’t really care what he does, interesting comment about the nipples being on display would have been banned when he was Ellen...even though it’s the same nipples.

Emperors new clothes.

All surgery is potentially life threatening. My DSis had a radical mastectomy aged 32 for aggressive breast cancer. She developed a life threatening infection and the prognosis was poor. Her age and underlying fitness went in her favour and she survived both the infection and cancer.
Another friend wasn’t so lucky, she had breast reduction surgery, aged 21, she developed full sepsis and died a week after her surgery.
I wish the media would stop theses misleading headlines.
As an HCP I have seen so many unnecessary cosmetic procedures done as the result of body dismorphia, no matter how many lip fillers, tucks and nips are done, unless there was actually a visible defect they rarely have the desired effect. And many end up disfigured but somehow bizarrely think they look better. It’s very much a case of the empowers new clothes, nobody has the guts to tell them how ridiculous they look.
Although I am very sympathetic towards transgender individuals, I sometimes wonder whether their failed attempts to mimic the opposite sex actually causes more MH problems when they realise that no matter how much “work” they have done they still don’t really hack it as women or men.
Sorry.

Save your justifications. I can see what you are, and so can everyone else

Yes. We absolutely can.

The OP is concerned about how the media is reporting on a trans person having surgery. I’m just trying to understand what this has to do with feminism?

A transman is a biological female. Extreme surgery for young women and girls is a feminist issue.

Save your justifications. I can see what you are, and so can everyone else.

@PurgatoryOfPotholes my grin was in response to your comment about me disagreeing with the OP for the sake of it and being a trans foe. You made so many leaps in that post you won the Grand National, congratulations!

I am being sarcastic. I can only presume the kool does find it funny.

Yes, teens with gender-related.distress dying by suicide is so terribly amusing, isn't it.

Why the grin?

In some ways I think this shouldn't be reported on in the press as I feel teenagers are so impressionable and therefore there are many who are influenced to follow the trend. On the other hand I think parents and the public need to know that this is a trend and a fad. I'm not sure e what is the next course of action.

@OnWednesdaysWeWearMink I can see why it would annoy you that they didn’t say it was a quote on the radio, but I still feel that Elliot is allowed to be quoted.

Do you really imagine this makes you a trans ally? Hint: it doesn't. Being careless about encouraging suicidal ideation makes you a trans foe.

I agree with you, OP.

It is, or should be, basic knowledge that the more people are told that suicidal ideation is a normal and reasonable response to their current situation, the harder they will find it to resist their own thoughts.

It doesn't matter what Elliot thinks it was- that statement doesn't need to be highlighted. Is Elliot's life at stake if that quote isn't used there? The answer is no.

Other people's might be, though.