Guardian hits new low

[justawoman]

Glorifying a double mastectomy and claiming kids will kill themselves if they can’t get one too. My mother and other women I know have had mastectomies and I know how disfiguring they can be and how much nerve pain, lymphoma etc can happen afterwards. Now it’s presented, in the headline, as a ‘lifesaving’ choice, and no, they’re not talking about cancer:

www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/30/elliot-page-happiness-top-surgery-oprah-winfrey-interview

I know it’s bizarre, but I feel so disappointed in, and for, Page.

“Actor Elliot Page has revealed how much happier he feels after having top surgery, and described transitioning as “life-saving””

I had not realised hothead Guardian is junk now. Imagine using the term “top surgery” with neither an explanation or quotation marks.

Not ‘hothead’ but ‘how’.

"Children will die, its really that simple" fucking hell that's disgraceful

At least page is old enough to be in a better position to make a decision like that than a teenager.

Though I wonder whether this wll really have the desired effect. Because the rhetoric on being oneself finally etc was the same when coming out as a lesbian a number of years ago, and even the sense of a kind of euphoria. Sometimes I think people keep trying to chase the next thing that they think will fix the problem.

This week, state legislators in Florida rushed through a bill that would ban trans women and girls from participating in school sports.

NO.

What a horrendous article - full of crap.

I am sure that Elliot is happy as a man
but very concerned that he has rushed into irreversible surgery so quickly
and livid that the grauniad is repeating the "kids will die" line
in direct breach of the Samaritans guidelines

Why? Why will girls kill themselves if they don't have mastectomies? It's only a short article, but when are these questions going to be asked instead of pithy assumptions like this being considered worth printing? In my teens I absolutely hated my developing body too. Many girls do, to the point of suicidal ideation in my case as in many. Why? I hated it all because of the shit you get for it from men. I will happily lay money on the chances of male treatment of girls and women being at the bottom of this for many if not most. Why does no one in power want to actually look at the causes of problems any more? Too many, too many uncomfortable truths?

@TheWeeDonkey

"Children will die, its really that simple" fucking hell that's disgraceful

It makes it sound as though one of the reasons they will die, is if they are "banned from sports"

Page urged officials to support healthcare for transgender people and allow them access to sports. Republican lawmakers across the US are seeking to curtail gender-affirming care and punish doctors who deliver it, as well as banning trans youth from playing sports.
“Children will die,” Page said. “And it really is that simple.”
This week, state legislators in Florida rushed through a bill that would ban trans women and girls from participating in school sports. Critics described the move as “cruel and horrific”.

Fucksake. I had a double mastectomy at 36 due to breast cancer. I'm still suffering the side effects including nerve damage.
My 7 year old daughter may have to have one too, as she has a 50% chance of inheriting the lovely BRCA2 gene which will give her a 80% chance of BC.
My cancer was literally killing me. And did indirectly kill my sister, who killed herself through fear of the cancer.

Nobody is banning anyone from participating in sport. They are only banning them from participating in sport with the opposite sex.

I’m sorry, weebarra

@weebarra the insensitivity of such statements when women are having to face what you and your family have is horrendous.

My BF had a double mastectomy. She nearly died. Surgery saved her life.

For these girls, having breasts are not ‘killing’ them. If they are dying it’s mental health difficulties that are killing them.

I've watched parts of the interview and what Elliot appears to be describing is straight up body dysmorphia. Elliot also seems incredibly vulnerable in the interview and I just don't think they are the right person to be commenting on kids getting drugs and surgery.

And I'm another who thinks it's really offensive to talk about perfectly healthy people 'being killed' if they don't get double mastectomies. Partly because it's offensive to women whose bodies would be physically taken over by actual cancer without a mastectomy, and partly because it's a fucking horrendous message to send to young women.

Oprah! I guess once you are so rich you loose touch with reality then anything goes.

So, I've got a serious question that has just occurred to me. TRAs support surgical changes to the bodies of people who say they are trans and want surgery to change their bodies, and in this country they want this surgery funded by the NHS. They say this is needed for some trans people due to the mental ill health that is caused by those trans people not liking their bodies as they are (right? I'm not even sure on this point, as I've recently seen a load of TRAs saying being trans isn't a mental health issue etc). Ok. Do TRAs therefore support NHS funded cosmetic surgery for people who want it for any other reason due to them hating their body and those feelings potentially being a part of mental health problems? If not, why not? Why would people be more deserving of cosmetic surgery due to solely due to being trans? And if they support NHS funded cosmetic surgery for anyone who has mental illness which is linked to hatred of their body and wants it changed surgically...could this ever be reasonably resourced on the NHS for everyone who would undoubtedly start rushing in to ask for it?? (I don't think so!)

It is sad. But in US at least there is more foundation to Elliots statement.

Health insurance doesn’t usually cover gender affirming survey at all and so for many young adults, it’s not the dismay of a long waiting list but a large surgical bill that is unaffordable and may never be affordable on an average income. So suicide risk goes up. Resorting to sex work to get the money goes up (which in turn increases odds of being murdered and trauma leading to suicide). Resorting to drug trafficking goes up which increases chances of being shot and killed by police and other drug traffickers.

For countries like the U.K. where it’s paid for by the tax payer via nationalised health system, and it’s just a wait list, Elliot’s comments are hyperbole. Especially since cancer surgery is always life saving and should be prioritised ahead of gender affirming surgery which is only sometimes life saving.

It is a conundrum @MeadowHay.

The fact is the NHS funded work is limited by the number clinicians willing to do it.

Just a thought Plan, but maybe young people should be being encouraged to find therapeutic routes to managing their dysphoria, rather than prostituting themselves in order to line the pockets of plastic surgeons?

Elliot Page looks seriously under weight, even by Hollywood standards. You can’t possibly look at Elliot and think that Elliot looks healthy.

Republican lawmakers across the US are seeking to curtail gender-affirming care and punish doctors who deliver it, as well as banning trans youth from playing sports.

What a lot of shit. The Guardian should be ashamed. Crappy journalism.

"Children will die, its really that simple" fucking hell that's disgraceful

This is what's said to shut down any kind of criticism out debate. I mean, who wants children to die?

Also "paedo" and "why are you interested in other people's genitalia", and "trans phobe/TERF".

And it definitely is not 'that simple', it's all to avoid discussion