Reflection 20

Having read the articles on intersexuality and transsexuality has given me more insight and a better understanding of what there meanings are. Intersexuality as we discussed in class is when a person has one sex’s genitalia on the outside and on the inside they have the organs of the opposite sex. When I first read this I had to go back and re read it because I was just so confused with the explanation that was given. To further understand I read an article on a person who is an intersexual. When this person was born the parents were given the choice to what sex they wanted to raise their child. They chose to raise their baby as a girl and named her Judy. In the article Judy explained how throughout her adolescent stage she was a tom boy and was not comfortable with herself. She went on living not knowing why she felt this was because she had not been informed until later of what her condition was. While in college Judy slept with a woman and considered herself to be a lesbian, until years later she changed her named to Max and is now living as a man who is married and has a daughter. I can’t even imagine how Judy felt growing up thinking she was abnormal and having possibly much insecurity about herself. I believe that something like this could have a traumatizing effect on someone. I didn’t really know until now the true meaning when someone said something about being a transsexual. To my knowledge now, a transsexual is someone who is born a gender and physically looks this gender and has the genitalia of this gender but emotionally and mentally they feel as if they are supposed to be of the other gender. They feel as if they are trapped inside the wrong body. I recall watching a talk show one day and saw the most beautiful girl as a guest so I start watching to later find out that the show was based on transsexuality and how this beautiful young lady was born a boy. She was only 15 and had already had a sex change. She said that from early on in her life she knew that she was not supposed to be a boy and that God had made a mistake with her. She told her parents what she felt and much to my surprised they supported her and stood by her and watched their little boy have the surgery to become a girl. I was just shocked because I don’t know how the parents could support something like that at such a young age. I am not against someone feeling that way and doing the surgery but this person was merely a child when she had the sex change. What if she were to regret it later in life? I commend anyone who has ever gone through anything like this because it takes a lot of guts to be able to stand up to the snide remarks people will probably make and it also takes a strong person to realize that there is nothing wrong with them for being the way they are.