The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) says that breast implants are a life and death matter for transgender people who need the operation to function in their new identity. In their study, the group found that transgender people who are denied the operation are more likely to commit suicide than others who go through breast implant surgery.
“Breast implants for transgender women are in many cases an very important measure for them to function with their new identity and allow them to fit in as women in everyday life,” the advocacy group said in a statement. Findings were published in a petition to the National Board of Health and Welfare.
RFSL warns that transgender people who are denied the procedure often result in “alarmingly” high rates of suicide and other psychological problems, Sweden-based The Local is reporting.
“Plastic surgery for transsexual patients, to a large extent, saves lives,” advocates for the group say. Suicide rates for transgender patients who are denied breast implants reach nearly 30 to 40 percent, compared to 1.6 percent for the general Swedish population.
The findings come in wake of a Swedish hospital who allegedly denied a transgender person from receiving the elective surgery.
“It’s not acceptable that a small and vulnerable group of transgender people such as this transexual group is given different rights to care depending on where in the country they live,” RFSL wrote.
RFSL added it is “an individual’s value and right to decide over their identity.”
No, sex reassignment surgery is a matter of life and death for TRANSSEXUALS, breast enhancement surgery is generally a luxury. Some need it, some don’t. Hormones make a difference. Yes, I would like somewhat larger breasts, but I am not suicidal over it. This has to be one of the silliest claims I have seen. This sort of thing just makes it look like people are trying to force people to give things that are not really absolutely need. And if a hospital turns you away, then go to another hospital. Breast surgery is elective. It is not a matter of life and death. Shoot, I imagine some hospitals don’t do it at all, period.
Well…You’re basing your claim on your own needs and perceptions, and they’re basing their claims on actual numbers and research….
With all due respect, I’ll take their word over yours.
It’s not your place to claim that someone else doesn’t need certain procedures simply because they don’t fit under the Transsexual term, or because you feel that if you don’t, then they must not either. Personally, I don’t feel the need for implants either, but I would never question someone else who felt they did, because the suicides are real, and if something as simple as a pouch of saline will have the potential to save a life, I say bloody well give it to them.
This article isn’t claiming that every transgender person requires the surgery, they’re saying that many do, and that the suicide rates among those who “are denied” the procedure (NOT among those who simply don’t have it done) are alarmingly high.
You’re reading too much of what isn’t there, and not enough of what really matters.
Well…you assume I don’t have considerable knowledge of the subject. No, in all the considerable contact I have had with both transsexual and transgender people, I have never once met anyone who was suicidal over not being able to have breast surgery. SRS, yes, but not breast surgery. Sorry, but it appears that this article is really about a group making a huge fuss because one hospital did not want to perform the procedure for a “transgender person.” We had a similar case locally, when a Catholic hospital refused to allow a transgender woman to have the surgery. Now, there was nothing stopping her from going to any number of other hospitals, but she chose to make a big fuss and go after people for honest convictions. I don’t agree with those convictions, but I believe this was a frivolous and improper suit. It was not about defending some actual principal, but was about forcing one’s views on someone who has a right not to hold them.
I have worked with transgender women for many years and I want to commend the Swedish group RFSL for their work. “Just Jennifer” calls breast surgery “generally a luxury,” silly, and not a matter of life and death. I’m glad she can live her life without an added surgery, but for many trans women, it is not a luxury, and as the study reveals, it is a matter of life and death for 30-40% of trans women. Don’t like breast augmentation surgery? Don’t have it. But please don’t judge others who would rather die than live without it.
I have actually worked in a research project dealing with transgender people, so I think I have as much of a right to speak on the subject. I have never met a single person who considered it a matter of life and death. And that is not really what this story is about. No one was denying these people access to the surgery, just declining to perform it at a specific hospital. And please don’t make up silliness, like “would rather die than live without it,” That might be true of SRS, but I have never encountered anyone who felt remotely that way about breast enhancement surgery.
Again, this is another silly assault on a hospital that has a view that others might disagree with. It is not about people being denied surgery, just being denied surgery as ONE hospital. If it were about a full ban by a country, I would oppose it, not on silly grounds like it would lead to suicide (which is absurd because no one is actually denied the surgery anyway) but because such a ban would be simply wrong. Shoot, if some guy wants to have the surgery to win a bet, as happened in one case, that is his right. Granted, he might should have had his head examined instead, but he did, and he won the bet. No big deal. But such rhetoric does harm to the cause of those who actually have the medical issue of transsexualism, not that this matter one bit to the transgender extremists who only want to subvert gender.
With all dew respect ,its like a living death. In ones own self they know.
Hello, just wanted to say, I loved this article. It was practical.
Keep on posting!