Open heart surgery is a "body modification" in that it modifies the body, but the distinction I make is that body mods are cosmetic. Open heart surgery is not cosmetic.
Many people might argue that if you feel as though you were born in the wrong body, the need to change that is more than cosmetic, but I don't agree; in fact, I think that kind of biological determinism is cowardly. If you want to be something other than what you were born -- in terms of XX or XY, in terms of genitalia -- own that decision. Don't blame it on biochemistry.
And change it! With my blessing. But not with my monetary subsidy.
Mine is not a popular opinion, of course.
And the reason I brought up "depression" in my posting above is because I've heard variations on that "cleft palate" example with people before, generally in regards to depression although the comparison there is with diabetes. "Diabetics need to take insulin," they'll say, "and that's the exact same thing as me taking SSRIs."
Except that it's not.
Because there are lots and lots of different ways to control depression. SSRIs certainly. But other ways, too.
And I would argue that there are probably lots of ways to control gender, too, and surgery is certainly one of them. But I don't want to pay for it.
Why would I pay for someone else's open heart surgery and not for someone else's gender reassignment surgery?
Because it's within the realm of possibility that I might need open heart surgery myself some day, but I won't need gender reassignment surgery.
I'm selfish.
Possibly the solution, then, might lie in creating an insurance risk pool that includes people who may want to make cosmetic surgery choices. This is not a bad idea, actually.
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Many people might argue that if you feel as though you were born in the wrong body, the need to change that is more than cosmetic, but I don't agree; in fact, I think that kind of biological determinism is cowardly. If you want to be something other than what you were born -- in terms of XX or XY, in terms of genitalia -- own that decision. Don't blame it on biochemistry.
And change it! With my blessing. But not with my monetary subsidy.
Mine is not a popular opinion, of course.
And the reason I brought up "depression" in my posting above is because I've heard variations on that "cleft palate" example with people before, generally in regards to depression although the comparison there is with diabetes. "Diabetics need to take insulin," they'll say, "and that's the exact same thing as me taking SSRIs."
Except that it's not.
Because there are lots and lots of different ways to control depression. SSRIs certainly. But other ways, too.
And I would argue that there are probably lots of ways to control gender, too, and surgery is certainly one of them. But I don't want to pay for it.
Why would I pay for someone else's open heart surgery and not for someone else's gender reassignment surgery?
Because it's within the realm of possibility that I might need open heart surgery myself some day, but I won't need gender reassignment surgery.
I'm selfish.
Possibly the solution, then, might lie in creating an insurance risk pool that includes people who may want to make cosmetic surgery choices. This is not a bad idea, actually.