Le T, I have introspected on this issue for years and I believe switching genders is a tragedy. Sorry.It's permanent and only available through the miracle of modern medical science.
What else do you need to know?
The preceeding statement is written by someone who believes herself pro-trans, called herself an ally. This kind of Michele Landberg, Julie Bindel, 'really I'm just concerned for your welfare,' transphobia dressed up as radical feminism, we can, quite simply, do without.
But I do like to engage and refute bad ideas on their being logically bad, not just hateful, (I know, I'm weird that way,) so here we go:
I believe switching genders is a tragedy. Sorry.
Yes, I agree. I'm female, had foolishly spent 26 years trying to live my life as male, and looking back on it it was a sad, awkward, pathetic experience. I'm sort of proud at how much I managed to accomplish during that time considering I couldn't go an hour from the age of 11 without getting lost in a daydream of being, well, myself. It's good to know, though, that you know my life better than I do.
It's permanent and only available through the miracle of modern medical science.
Yes, for most trans women in the 70's premarin was a wonder drug. Thing is, trans women have been taking premarin, (pregnant mare urine) for millenia. We've also eaten diets high in phyto estrogens, learned through word of mouth or buried in cultural folklore, attempted to avoid muscular hypertrophy, and worked on speaking in what feels like a proper vocal range for our identified gender for about as long.
And, no, vaginaplasty is permanent, but hormonal treatments can be reversed. Some people, realizing that transition isn't right for them, transition back. Some have to supplement with hormone replacement for the rest of their lives, something they'd decided to do in the first place.
Transition is greatly improved due to the modern medicine, but it is not unique, simply more pleasing and effective. So are prosthetics, cardiology, hepetology, and a number of other fields. Is correcting a cleft palate a tragedy?
What else do you need to know?
Well, for starts, why you believe that since you have met emotionally troubled trans women in an institutionalized setting, the rest of us aren't living relatively stable lives with something approaching the regular amount of modern angst? Why don't you think that, like cis women, most trans women are worried that our hips are too big, or that we won't be able to afford to go on vacation to Michigan, or whatever else hundreds of thousands of people you know nothing about are doing? What do you think of the research that shows the brains of trans women share important similarities in the area responsible for gender identity with cis women?
Do you have any reason, other than your stated vast experience with the mentally ill, to believe that our needs are illegitimate in your eyes?
For starts.