Gender-affirming surgery linked to better mental health

[Shizuku]

www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/gender-affirming-surgery-linked-better-mental-health-study-finds-n1266033

“This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing affirmation in all forms can be life-saving for trans and gender-diverse people,” said lead author Anthony Almazan, a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School. “Policies that limit access to care can put lives at risk. Our evidence shows we should be expanding gender-affirming care, not limiting it.”

Wouldn't seem to be the case for this person, tragically: https://www.reddit.com/r/ftm/comments/ep86uv/imthefirstevercaseofftm_facial/

Or this person https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24373107

What does this have to do with feminism?

Or Keira Bell, who had a mastectomy: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51676020

'Depending on an individual’s sex assigned at birth, a variety of surgical options are available, including facial contouring, tracheal shaving, chest construction, hysterectomy, phalloplasty and vaginoplasty.'!

And for today's specials ...

[quote FightingTheFoo]Wouldn't seem to be the case for this person, tragically: [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ftm/comments/ep86uv/imthefirstevercaseofftm_facial/]][/quote]
So abortions should be banned too because this women tragically died?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23401781

Honestly - do better.

'“This is evidence to show those health plan insurers who have not wanted to cover transgender surgery because they wanted ‘more evidence showing the efficacy of surgery,’ that gender-affirming surgery should be made available to transgender and diverse gender people,”'

Don't forget, in the US, it's allllll about money.

@northstars

What does this have to do with feminism?

Dunno - ask all the people who post all day every day on this forum about trans people.

I would also advise everyone to watch this clip the whole way through - especially the bit where the surgeons - widely considered to be the "best" gender affirmation surgeons in the US - are arguing in the operating theatre over what to cut

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCVA9q3RBc

Thank goodness we have NICE and the NHS to rely on in the UK - evidence based medecine that is not in thrall to insurers and profit-driven healthcare.

Dunno - ask all the people who post all day every day on this forum about trans people

I’m asking you as you’re the one who just started two threads on this topic, in feminism.

Fourth year medical student???? Lead author???.

Last link and then I'm out: https://jezebel.com/when-surgeons-fail-their-trans-patients-1844774990

[quote FightingTheFoo]Or this person [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24373107]][/quote]
What about these 3 who died after hip replacements:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X18304165

Ban hip replacements? Seriously, this angle isn't going to work for you - it just makes it look like you don't have the faintest idea how science works.

I'd need to read the actual study to properly comment. The news article says that the mental health of those who wanted surgeries but hadn't had them was compared to those who did have them.

I am interested in what makes an increasing number of people think they need surgical procedures to relieve mental distress.

Yes, why have you posted this twice, Shizuku? It's about trans people in the US. This is a forum for feminists, predominantly in the UK. Is there not a LGBT forum on Mumsnet you could post on?

What is gender?

I haven't looked at the detail behind that particular study but I've seen way too many studies that don't follow up on anyone who drops out of it. They tend to be incredibly self-selecting.
I'm sure we can all agree that we'd like to see more detailed and evidence-based research.
Of course, as long as research that even may show a negative correlation is nixed before its even started, we're not going to get that.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41384473

Who is talking about banning anything? I have no problem with elective body modification surgery. I just think it's important people - consenting adults - know what they're actually signing up for.

Right now it's a field full of cowboys with little oversight and almost no recourse if your surgeon fucks up. Which they do, frequently, because they're promising patients unicorns. And using many of them as guinea pigs.

And all the obfuscation - "top surgery" when you mean a mastectomy and "bottom surgery" when you mean castration - doesn't help.

@ArabellaScott

Yes, why have you posted this twice, Shizuku? It's about trans people in the US. This is a forum for feminists, predominantly in the UK. Is there not a LGBT forum on Mumsnet you could post on?

So you would remove yesterdays posts about Elliot Page - an American trans man? Funny, I don't remember you saying that.

Many women here understand why a girl would not want to be a woman in our highly sexist society. It's so sexist that men are listened to above women even when the man says he's a woman.

Who wouldn't want to join that privileged position?

Our concerns as feminists is that girls and young women are starting on this path which is physically extremely damaging to them.

Lobotomies were thought to be a good solution at one time, eventually sanity won and the procedure was dropped.

Hopefully the same will happen to giving girls and young women testosterone and double mastectomies.

But why twice? Was it a mistake, would you like to ask MN to remove one of your posts?

There's a little more in this article: fenwayhealth.org/new-study-shows-transgender-people-who-receive-gender-affirming-surgery-are-significantly-less-likely-to-experience-psychological-distress-or-suicidal-ideation/
This shows that previous studies have shown little or negative benefit. I'm curious at the large number of participants- 20,000. This indicates it might have been online and self-selecting, and the head researcher was a fourth year medical student, rather than anyone within the field or with extensive experience in research.
The original doc is behind a paywall so I can't dig further, but I'd be interested to see the methodology used.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2779429

As with anything like this posted, I would be hugely skeptical. Remember multiple news sources reported Turban’s study as showing puberty blockers as being helpful, even though it actually showed those who had been on puberty blockers were twice as likely to be hospitalised for a suicide attempt.

I can only access the abstract on my phone, I will need to log in to the full article at work, but straight away I am seeing problems:

• it’s respondents from a self- selecting questionnaire
• the abstract doesn’t say what “gender affirming” surgery actually means. It doesn’t necessarily mean major genital surgery
• it only looks at past-month psychological distress and past-year suicidal ideation. That’s a remarkably short period of time, and doesn’t clarify when the surgery was in that period.

Instantly I’m wondering how you can extrapolate “improved mental health outcomes” from people who willingly fill in a questionnaire and only think about the last 12 months.

Once again, that which is claimed is not so.

Wow @FightingTheFoo I hadn't seen that before.

And the joke to a child about being alone star whisky taking a photo of the mutilated genitals. How wholly inappropriate, sick in fact.

So completely shocking.