When looking at the concept of cosmetic surgery, it is so normalized in our culture as Americans. Face lifts, breast enhancements, rhinoplasty, and weekly botox injections are all accepted in our society. When an individual is unhappy with their outward appearance, modern medical technology can fix it. A group of people that greatly benefit from plastic surgery is transgender and transsexual individuals. Biology makes unfortunate mistakes and luckily there are surgical options that can help individuals to feel as comfortable as they can with their bodies. The trans community exists and society is slow to catch on.
Celebrities, like Heidi Montag, are of course given flack for having dozens of cosmetic surgeries and completely altering her image, but for the most part, celebrities are praised with getting bigger and better jobs after altering their appearance.
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| Heidi Montag before and after cosmetic surgery procedures. |
How this relates to transgender individuals, is that before any transition starts to occur, intense therapy is required. Yes, of course changing a way of thinking, looking, and sometimes behaving is a lot to take on, but in a case like Montag's, it can absolutely be compared. There is privilege when it comes to being cis-gender and wanting plastic surgery. Insurance companies sometimes help to pay for cosmetic surgeries, but it is rare for a transwoman to have insurance money to help pay for a breast enhancement or any other surgery which would help define an individual's gender/sex, which can be argued as an health issue.
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| Katelynn Cusanelli of MTV's The Real World: Brooklyn, is an example of a trans individual who has been accepted by the younger, MTV generation. |
In the article "Television and the Domestication of Cosmetic Surgery" by Sue Tait, she reflects on what I think is going on with society and the feeling toward cosmetic surgery when she says, "responses to cosmetic surgery are overwhelmed by a post-feminism which asserts our right to shape ourselves. The individual's choice to transform their body is uncoupled..." Ultimately it comes down to choice and the younger generation more often understands that trans issues and solutions are not usually choices, but what is necessary.
After reading your blog post, I have to wonder why some insurance companies pay for plastic surgery, but not for transgender surgeries. This is wrong. I think that insurance companies need to understand that becoming transgender is not a choice that an individual makes, they feel like that if they do not get the surgery, they will never be the person they feel that they are inside.
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