Rites of Trans-sexual People

[FightingFat]

This is a rather acerbic little article attacking the Church’s position regarding transexuals: -

guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jun/21/un-trans-human-rights-catholic-opposition?CMP=twt_fd

it just refers to transexuals as “trans”. The Church teaches that transexualism is a disability; a form of mental illness which requires treatment, not surgery. Studies have shown that surgery fails to alter the sex of a person, because sex is a reality on a genetic level. This means that mutilation and hormonal treatment will not altar that innate sexuality at all. The Church argues that we should call these things what they are instead of trying to pretend they are actually something else, out of some misplaced sense of compassion.

That said, how would you approach the anti-Catholic rhetoric in the article? Are there any experts in special morals here that could help me form a critique based on the text?

 

[Eva_Victoria]

Speaking as someone who suffers from gender identity disorder, the intention of hormone replacement and surgery is not to literally ‘become’ the other sex, but to simply ‘pass’ as one in your public life to ease what is called ‘dysphoria’ resulting from the disconnect between your body and your mind.

I don’t think anyone in the entire world, for any reason, from any walk of life, would legitimately believe that we as mere men have the ability to actually change someone from a literal man into a literal woman, or vice versa - the treatments are mostly cosmetic and mildly functional, but serve only to ease the mental anguish suffered by people with this condition.

This said, the Catholic Church has a very clear position on these treatments (that they constitute sins of self mutilation and defy the natural order), so personally it is just my cross to bear that I will probably always feel horrible when I see my own body in the mirror and can’t live the life I had hoped for myself. Instead, I am pretty much resolved to living some kind of quiet religious life as best I can and trying to offer my pain for Him and for others.

I realise this reply doesn’t answer your final question, but I felt I should contribute my thoughts as I am transgender (transsexual is the term for someone who has undergone ‘sexual reassignment surgery’, transgender is the broader term for people who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder).

 

[FightingFat]

Thanks, I feel for you, it must be very tough. I had a lecture on this issue recently and it broke my heart, the facts of sorting the problem out are pretty poor I understand, even going through the op bears no guarantee that anyone will actually *feel *more the opposite sex.

Anyway, any thoughts on the article itself?

 

[St_Francis]

There have been many discussions of leftist articles about things the Catholic Church has said. The Catholic position is usually misrepresented, and because it comes from a foundation of thinking which is anti-thetical to the leftist/secularist foundation of thinking, it is simple for the latter to shred the Catholoc position and critique the strawman they create.

I haven’t read the Catholic paper so I cannot comment on it. Perhaps it was badly written and presented the Church’s position badly, I don’t know.

However, to borrow Eva’s analogy, there are many in the world who feel at odds with what they see in the mirror. Stephen Hawkings is probably not too happy with his reflection, Stevie Wonder can’t even see his.

I have heard that there are some people whose body image does not include a limb, altho their actual body does. They look in the mirror and are disturbed and distressed by the presence of the limb. Some go so far as to attempt to have the limb removed.

While the Church is all for surgery to fix a problem, amputation of a gangrenous or cancerous limb for example, the Church thinks that the solition to the problem of someone thinking a limb should not be there is not surgery but help for the mental problem which we can clearly understand.

In the same way, people who view their bodies as wrong because of the gender it is need help in the mental area, not the physical. In fact, a person in England who went through the sex reassignment surgery said the same thing, and added that we were doing no favors for those who suffer from this situation to offer the surgery as what they really needed was mental help.

Many of those who disagree with the Church’s stance in this (and many other) areas have the idea that people should be allowed and even helped to do as they please, and see the ideas of the Church as an oppressive limitation of people’s freedom. These people do not take into account that people do needto live within the limits imposed by physical realities as well as spiritual realities; I guess they see the former as being potentially fixable, so any currently “fixable” limitation should not be continued for a non-material reason.

So, is it worth it to try to argue with this article? I have come to the conclusion that all I can do is to present the logic of the Church’s position and answer any sincere questions. (which is not to say that I always remember that!)

HTH

 

[KostyaJMJ]

I am not sure I want to know anything about the rites of transsexuals. sounds like a bit much for my tastes.