[There are some revealing details about the doctor (John Money)'s investment in the case, etc. but that's not really relevant to this post.]It's a pretty awful story, to say the least. We watched video interviews of "John" today in my Psych of Women class and I felt so, so bad for the little boy forced to live in a[n extremely feminine] girl's body. I can understand why the decision was made for him to be raised as a girl (at a time when plastic surgery wasn't developed enough to reconstruct a penis, his parents feared he wouldn't be viewed as normal if he didn't have one) - it's just really bad luck.
Naturally, when "John" shared his story, there was a massive response of horror. Even using the example of the discussion we had in my Psych of Women class, people reacted with "how could they have done this to the poor boy!" "It's not right!" "They should have at least waited until he was old enough to pick his own gender!"
But. Okay. People. I feel as if everyone is viewing the John/Joan case as an entity separate from anything else that occurred during the 60s-70s, that it was a freak accident resulting from a botched surgery, and that if he had been allowed to grow up as John, with or without a penis, his life wouldn't have been so horrible. Which is perfectly valid to say in hindsight, because of course, when something bad happens, we look for places to lay the blame. We don't actually know if his life would've been easier - maybe the fact that he didn't have a penis would have also subjected him to ridicule from his cruel and unaccepting peers.
My course instructor did draw this link, very briefly, but it was quickly skipped over: trans people! The whole issue of feeling as if you're living in the wrong body (and subsequent mental health problems that may occur as a result), taking hormones, peer rejection and humiliation...these are things that transsexual/transgendered individuals continue to go through today, 40 years later, in 2010. And let's face it, today's society may still be transphobic, but that is nothing compared to how I am certain life was like in the 60s-70s for trans people (if they even came out...).So basically, I wish people would realize that John/Joan was not the only kid going through intense gender identity conflict. The circumstances were extremely special, because he was assigned to the opposite gender, but the feelings were not. Feeling like a freak, like something's wrong with you, like you don't belong...you get the idea. John/Joan's case sucks, but he was not the only kid feeling these feelings - his circumstances were just such that he ended up receiving all the attention.
This tremendous oversight made me mad. Because my heart breaks every time I hear another story about a transboy* growing up, thinking he is a freak, and generally not being able to live life as he wants to - in a skin that feels comfortable, feels right. Or a transgirl* who just wants to be like all the other girls instead of being told to "man up." I'm generally not an emotional person, but stories like these legitimately make me want to cry.
* For peeps not familiar with the terminology, "transboy" = individual who is biologically female but identifies as male; "transgirl" = individual who is biologically male but identifies as female. And no, those aren't the technical terms. It would actually be "transman" and "transwoman," or some variation on that. I'm just being cute. :)
