Russian parliament bans gender reassignment surgery for trans people

minimar@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 561 points –
Russian parliament bans gender reassignment surgery for trans people
bbc.com
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I legitimately can’t imagine how awful it must be to be trans in Russia. Well, pretty much anywhere really, now that I think of it. Trans people just can’t catch a break. I feel so bad for them.

I imagine this is why many people that might consider it just dont. It's easier sometimes to just do the expected things at the expense of one's self.

True, but there are definitely places where it's much better to be trans than others, and Russia's near the bottom of the pack.

Russia is a tough place to be human

Unless you are a white straight russian man

And even then, if you don't support Putin you'll probably be accidently falling out a window.

It’s also tough being a Slavic Russian, but still worse to be of any other ethnic group in Russia I think.

Not really, there are no laws prohibiting any ethnicity to work in the government. Ethnic language and culture is allowed and supported in these ethnic regions.

You and me both, fam. I can't even imagine how it must be for a trans person to live in the US south - it is just mind-baffling to think of what it must be in other countries that barely even recognize any of those rights or are even outright hostile to the identity.

I can't speak for every trans person in the South, but for me, it's pretty fucking awful.

Part of it is my area(lot of old white conservatives). They really don't give a fuck. I have had to listen to 10 minute rants about gender politics because they want a pink gender reveal cake.

We did multiple cake variations for Valentine's. All stick figures. We "dared" to put rainbows on a couple of them. We had to get rid of them because people complained about STICK FIGURES under rainbows.

I have to make sure I'm in a safe place to even begin feeling like myself.

Like you said, I think it's pretty awful in the majority of countries with few exceptions

Here in Ontario is pretty good for me as a trans person, well at least in terms of my being trans. I feel fortunate.

I'm glad you feel comfortable in Ontario. I hope we can keep it that way here.

I have no idea what it's like to have gender dysphoria, but I'd imagine they'd just not come out. But idk how that works, or if they're willing to get bullied by like every Russian ever.

For the record, I tried not coming out for about 25 years and it wrecked my mental health and increased my depression. :(

It can affect everyone differently but not coming out and getting things done can lead to terrible mental health and depression, leading to suicide. Transitionning is the only way we know to supress those symptoms.

That isn't entirely true. Transitioning is very recent idea. Being trans and transitioning is also intimately tied to pharma capital complex.

There were many ways of being queer and trans which have been erased over time. Simply consider the native American stuff and also Indian motions of hijra.

Though not this precise point a good text to read : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testo_Junkie

Probably because those people didn't have a choice due to the limitations of medicine.

Same as how treatment for depression was "suck it up or abuse drugs/alcohol" and the treatment for serious trauma was "die".

Again depression is a modern conception which is a symptom of a society that has erased notions such as melancholia and mourning.

Reference: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/The_New_Black.html?id=8nL823M9X64C&redir_esc=y

The point is that these new ideas pretend that they are all neutral and they have arrived at the truth. In the process the constitue their own subjects who are interpellated in these frames. The people who believe and fall for this new discourses are produced by these new technological and scientific advances. It isn't a truth waiting to be grasped out there.

The point is that alternative routes of making meaning of these phenonemon have been erased and other alternative pathways are blocked by suggesting that this is it.

Hey, germs are a modern conception, too, so I guess it would be fine with you if surgeons stopped washing their hands.

There is no analogical reasoning between germ theory and psychiatry. Psychiatry chooses to individualize a problem in however coded manners at the expense of the social. I am honestly quite astounded by the response that transitioning is the only way to be trans nowadays. This echoes the overall codification of queer behaviour the world over where the normative western queer body language now dominated. If you don't behave or are like them you are not queer.

Alienated not only from the products of our labour, but increasingly the original tool of our labour; that is, our bodies. That's the likely cause of the ideological cart overtaking the materialist horse when it comes to gender. At least, in my opinion.

How about we decide to do the sensible thing and take advantage of modern medicine??

Yes. Not against modern medicine. While you are at it please also look into the pharma complex which oversells modern medicine.

Of course, but that's the case for medicine in the US across the board. It's not so much a problem elsewhere.

Hormonal transition for those who want it is scientifically proven to be beneficial in improving in quality of life and decreasing suicidality.

Queer people have always existed in many forms. Estrogen replacement therapy and testosterone replacement therapy have only existed for the last hundred years. But I would make no mistake that trans people are a real thing and for many of us who are binary the desire is not "i want to be perceived as genderqueer" rather it is "i want to be perceived as a man/woman". Youre also definitely wrong that those things have been erased. Two spirit people and hijira still exist. And non-binary people do as well, who live entirely new lives made up of entirely new queer experiences.

Which is great, and I'm happy people are able to live how they want to. I'm just a woman though. I'm just a binary transgender woman. In a perfect world I would never transition at all, I would have just been assigned female at birth. To that end I've been taking estrogen and t blockers for over 8 years. I had surgery so that I now have a vagina. I didn't do those things because of 'pharma capital complex', I did them because this makes me happy. Because I am happy with myself and my body like this. I would not be happy if I did not have typical hormone levels for women, I would not be happy if I still had a penis. No one made my want those things, I have spent my entire life since I was a young child wishing for those things. And now that I have them I have the opportunity for a happy life. I would likely not have lived this long had I been born before the advent of medical transition. Whatever life I would've lived would have been absolutely miserable and likely ended by my own hand once I could no longer numb myself to my own skin.

Couldn't have said it better myself <3

Lots of transphobes and bad actors spamming downvotes too. Yet too cowardly to actually have a response.

most of russian people doesn't support lgbt whatsoever

and it's prohibited by law to promote lgbt

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