RANSVESTIA

Unhappily such people have their self-identity as men so deeply in- tertwined with their identity as males that they carry the logic, faulty though it is, to the other side and conclude that just because they are men, BECAUSE they are males, they can only be women if they become females.

There are really only three reasons for having sex conversion surgery: 1. To make sex with a male by vaginal intercourse possible; 2. To achieve "legal" status as a female, and

3. As a means of achieving self-acceptance (i.e. "I AM REAL”). Now, if the hetero person thinks that he can rearrange his thinking so that he can become sexually turned on by being mounted by a male he is likely to end up disillusioned. Just taking estrogens at this late date in life does not reverse all the programming, both psyiological and social, of the previous lifetime. As you will note from question 9, above, 42% of the heteros had had NO intercourse since surgery and many others had only tried it a few times. Thirty-three percent found it unpleasant which means that they had to try it at least once. The sum of these 75% are therefore getting no sexual advantage from the change.

The legal problems can be solved by a process of getting a name change. Passports can be obtained first in the legal male name with the birth certificate with the femmename indicated as “also known as" and then at some later date when the court has officially changed the name submission of that certificate and the old passport will yield new one in the femmename. I know because I did just that. While the court actually approves only a feminine name it is also tacity approving dressing and living as a woman since you appear in court that way and it could hardly be expected that a man would change his name to Maryann or Cather- ine. So we come back to reason 3 and this is the hard one.

If people could only learn to assess themselves as persons and not as penises and vaginas it would be easy. What hetero persons toying with sex change surgery ought to really do is to seriously consider the differ- ences between female and woman and how they are determined. The world will designate you as a woman if you look and act like one. If you don't, having three vaginas will not help you. Conversely, if you do look and act and live like one the world will take you as one and treat you as one and it won't make any difference if you have three penises. The world doesn't pull up your skirt or down your pants to find out what you are genitally. Why does the individual do that to himself (or herself)?

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