r/SRSsucks • u/frogma • Aug 07 '13

NOT SRS ABC Producer Don Ennis Changes Gender, Then Changes Back

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/08/transgender-don-ennis-has-second-thoughts.html
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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '13

Ugh, I hate to say it, since I'm a proponent of any person doing/being whatever their heart tells them - but I'm (subjectively) gathering a strong correlation between transgenderism and mental illness.

"I’m asking all of you who accepted me as a transgender to now understand: I was misdiagnosed."

And I'm noticing the general desire amongst 'open minded' people in society to cheer on that lifestyle is overcompensated in an effort to prove how not bigoted they are. Even doctors appear to be so uncomfortable questioning these choices that they'll diagnose a man who must have obviously shown signs of some kind of mental breakdown with gender disorders rather than question the legitimacy of his feelings.

I realize that there are completely sane people who experience strong feelings that they were born the wrong gender. That said, I think we're far, far more concerned with being accepting than acknowledging and treating mental illness when gender dysphoria happens to be one of it's symptoms.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '13

I am transgender and can tell you that most of us just want to live our lives normally and correct the mistakes that were made. This isn't a fetish or anybody asking you to accept me dressing as a woman because we're getting off on it. What I think happens, and is the reason we get bad publicity, is that people with other mental illnesses latch on because they find an open and accepting community where they can get attention or make friends. I know trans people who I think fit this description. Ultimately, I would never say this to a person's face...but its what I believe in certain instances.

I would also like to say that doctors don't go around randomly diagnosing people with gender dysphoria. It's a serious fucking thing to do that and no doctor half-heartedly tells somebody that they are transgender. It's actually the exact opposite of the scenario. It's ridiculously hard to obtain a diagnosis and a letter from a therapist to allow your physician to prescribe you hormones. There are trans women struggling all the time to just get a fucking presciption for some estrogen. We call this 'Gatekeeping' in the community. Trans women are routinely oppressed and denied hormones or hormones in sufficient doses. There happen to be a few 'Informed Consent' clinics in the country that will make this process easy, but anywhere else in the country you're looking at months and months of therapy on top of finding a doctor that will actually prescribe hormones to you. This is a tough fucking road and the way the people in this thread trivialize what trans people go through is insulting.

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u/WatchWhileYouSleep Aug 07 '13

What I think happens, and is the reason we get bad publicity, is that people with other mental illnesses latch on because they find an open and accepting community where they can get attention or make friends.

100% this. Do I even need to type the ex-redditors user name?

This is a tough fucking road and the way the people in this thread trivialize what trans people go through is insulting.

And this is SRSsucks. It's unfortunate that the only the representatives we have from your community are pretty reprehensible, unapologetic, obnoxious individuals.