OBSERVATO

THE LURE OF SURGERY

by Virgmid

More and more I hear of or hear from or meet persons who talk sex- reassignment surgery. In almost every case it makes me very sad. I have met a few whom I think would be truly benefitted by it and I would sup- port and recommend it, so I am not dead against surgery but some of these people will make truly grotesque truck-driver type women but they can't see it. FPs are well known for living in fantasy worlds and their "mirror on the wall" is quite likely to tell them that they "are the fairest of them all". And even if their eyes belie this conclusion itdoesn't penetrate to their brain so they see this "woman" in the mirror and de- cide that that is the way they want to live for the rest of their lives. Well, since I made that decision too, though I don't get too impressed by what the mirror tells me, I can't really fault others who want to live as women.

What really is sad and which bothers me every time I make contact with somebody who considered himself a "TS", is their idea that the only way to be a woman is to lose the penis and acquire a vagina from a plus something that sticks out to a minus something that sticks in. It truly is sad that people fasten their identity to what is between their legs which very few other people are ever going to see anyway. So since they are seldom called on to "prove" their sex anatomically why do they need it changed to "prove" to themselves that they have changed their gender? Way back in issue No. 60 we had about seven articles includ- ing one from someone who had gone through surgery. This issue was put out to try to lay the matter out so all interested parties could really evaluate the situation. Happy to say that it succeeded in bringing quite a few to a more realistic view of the whole thing. Although that issue is out of print those seven articles were printed up in a small pamphlet titled "SEXUAL IDENTITY vs. GENERAL IDENTITY." These pamphlets can be had for the cost of printing them 50 cents — just ask for the G. I. pamphlet.

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