Corinna Cohn, a self-described transsexual activist, wrote a Monday op-ed for the Washington Post warning young people against rushing into sex reassignment surgery that way Cohn did.
THE QUOTE
Cohn — a founding member of the Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, which monitors best practices in “gender care” — detailed the personal costs of “the destruction of my gonads” at age 19.
- TOO YOUNG: “In terms of my priorities and interests today, that younger incarnation of myself might as well have been a different person — yet that was the person who committed me to a lifetime set apart from my peers … Others might feel differently about their choices, but I know now that I wasn’t old enough to make that decision,” Cohn wrote.
- ALONE FOR LIFE: “I once believed that I would be more successful finding love as a woman than as a man, but in truth, few straight men are interested in having a physical relationship with a person who was born the same sex as them … Today, I have resigned myself to never finding a partner. That’s tough to admit, but it’s the healthiest thing I can do.”
- A PERMANENT PATIENT: “From the day of my surgery, I became a medical patient and will remain one for the rest of my life. I must choose between the risks of taking exogenous estrogen, which include venous thromboembolism and stroke, or the risks of taking nothing, which includes degeneration of bone health. In either case, my risk of dementia is higher, a side effect of eschewing testosterone,” Cohn continued.
- NO SEX: “I chose an irreversible change before I’d even begun to understand my sexuality. The surgeon deemed my operation a good outcome, but intercourse never became pleasurable.”
THE ADVICE: “Learning to fit in your body is a common struggle. Fad diets, body-shaping clothing and cosmetic surgery are all signs that countless millions of people at some point have a hard time accepting their own reflection. The prospect of sex can be intimidating. But sex is essential in healthy relationships. Give it a chance before permanently altering your body,” Cohn wrote to “young people seeking to transition.”
- “Most of all, slow down. You may yet decide to make the change. But if you explore the world by inhabiting your body as it is, perhaps you’ll find that you love it more than you thought possible.”
SAME ENERGY
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Tuesday, Erica Anderson, a transgender psychologist who specializes in treating young people with gender dysphoria, argued that some of her colleagues are recommending hormones or surgery for minors without enough screening.
- “I think it’s gone too far,” Anderson said. “For a while, we were all happy that society was becoming more accepting and more families than ever were embracing children that were gender variant. Now it’s got to the point where there are kids presenting at clinics whose parents say, ‘This just doesn’t make sense.'”
THE REACTION
Both transgender rights activists and their critics saw the pair of articles as a departure from the elite media’s typically credulous coverage of “gender affirming” medical treatments for young people.
- “… it’s obvious there is a concerted effort by mainstream print media to elevate token trans people who spread anti-trans narratives to undermine our rights,” tweeted transgender activist and writer Alejandra Caraballo Tuesday, suggesting journalists instead cover new state laws in Alabama, Florida and elsewhere cracking down on how minors are treated for and educated about gender identity.
- “Vibe shift,” podcaster Katie Herzog tweeted Tuesday, approvingly.