You can’t be serious

On gender pronouns, gender identity and transgender people

March 19th, 2018

Online discussions about transgender people, their rights and other related subjects, such as gender identity and the use of certain gender pronouns, were very popular last year and there’s a trend right now of governments in various countries that are getting involved to force a certain “(far) leftist” agenda down everyone’s throat.

The situation got particularly bad in Canada where they introduced legislation (Bill C-16) that could be used in the future to force people to refer to others by their preferred alternative gender pronouns. One of the people who spoke out against this was Dr. Jordan Peterson, who rightly pointed out that this was a serious violation of freedom of speech. But Peterson only appears to have a problem with the alternative pronouns such as ‘ze’ and ‘zir’, and wouldn’t mind addressing transgendered people by the traditional pronouns:

Dr Peterson says he does not object to trans people or to choosing which traditional pronoun they prefer. “If the standard transsexual person wants to be regarded as he or she, my sense is I’ll address you according to the part that you appear to be playing,” he said.

And in my view that’s a very stupid thing to do because by doing that you violate your personal integrity in order to please someone else. If you value the truth and want to go through life seeing reality as it truly is — which I’m sure Peterson does — then by pretending that someone else is a woman instead of a man and vice versa and going along with their delusions, you’re deceiving yourself and everyone else around you. I don’t know about Peterson, but my mind would constantly try to cope with this contradiction in interactions with such a person because I absolutely hate lying to myself; it would cause quite some mental discomfort. In addition you’re also being disingenuous and a hypocrite, since obviously you know the truth but you choose to pretend to the other person that you’re going along with their delusion. Nothing good can come out of that in the long term and it only makes matters worse.

The correct thing to do in such instances would be to address these people by the gender pronoun that goes with their original biological gender (assuming you knew what it was, because if you don’t, chances are you’ll fall victim to their deception). So if the person was born a man, it’s ‘he’ and you tell them that they’re a man, and if born a woman it’s ‘she’ and you tell them that they’re a woman. Not only would this be logical and in line with the truth and objective reality, but it would also send a signal to the transgender person that they should probably go back and think long and hard about the beliefs that they have about themselves. This could save them from a great deal of trouble, and possibly even save their lives if they manage to get out of their delusion, seeing as how the suicide rate is very high among these people; as explained by psychiatrist Paul R. McHugh:

I am ever trying to be the boy among the bystanders who points to what’s real. I do so not only because truth matters, but also because overlooked amid the hoopla—enhanced now by Bruce Jenner’s celebrity and Annie Leibovitz’s photography—stand many victims. Think, for example, of the parents whom no one—not doctors, schools, nor even churches—will help to rescue their children from these strange notions of being transgendered and the problematic lives these notions herald. These youngsters now far outnumber the Bruce Jenner type of transgender. Although they may be encouraged by his public reception, these children generally come to their ideas about their sex not through erotic interests but through a variety of youthful psychosocial conflicts and concerns.

[…] Transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men. All (including Bruce Jenner) become feminized men or masculinized women, counterfeits or impersonators of the sex with which they “identify.” In that lies their problematic future.

The most thorough follow-up of sex-reassigned people—extending over thirty years and conducted in Sweden, where the culture is strongly supportive of the transgendered—documents their lifelong mental unrest. Ten to fifteen years after surgical reassignment, the suicide rate of those who had undergone sex-reassignment surgery rose to twenty times that of comparable peers.

Not to mention that many of these people often regret having sex-reassignment surgery as well. As fertility doctor Lord Robert Winston explains, “what I’ve been seeing in a fertility clinic are the long-term results of often very unhappy people who now feel quite badly damaged.”

Think about it, if someone walked up to you one day and said that 1+1=3, would you go along with that because that’s what “they identified with,” or would you correct them and explain to them that 1+1 actually equals 2? Isn’t it considered morally wrong to pretend that 1+1=3 and leave them in their faulty thinking while you have the chance to correct them and potentially help them? Well, it’s no different when it comes to someone believing themselves to belong to a gender that they’re clearly not.

Because what will you do when you encounter someone who thinks that they belong to a different species? What if someone walked up to you who thinks they’re a cat? Are you going to play along and treat them like a cat, because that’s what they think they are? Do you think that’s healthy? Or do you think it’s wiser not to go along with their delusion so that it might trigger them to reevaluate their beliefs about themselves, and perhaps even help them to snap out of it eventually?

If we’re going to be cowards and be afraid to speak and stand for the truth, then we shouldn’t be surprised when 10 years from now things get a lot more worse than they are today, and we find ourselves living in some kind of freak reality where nothing is what it seems anymore (which is already the case today to a very great extent). Not only do we already have people who now claim that they “were born in the wrong species,” but we even have physically healthy people who believe that they should be disabled and are now intentionally disabling themselves, a group classified as “transabled” and suffering from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). What kind of stupidity will people come up with next if this continues?

Tolerance

I know that it’s absolutely possible to value the truth and choose to live a life based on the truth while also being tolerant of other people, their views and their way of life. The way I see it is that every living organism in the universe — including human beings, obviously — has a right to life, granted to it by the universe. Like I wrote before:

This fundamental right is granted by the universe itself to the organism, and no organism can lay a claim on another’s right to life. Everything else in the universe follows from this fundamental right to life, including a universal sense of morality:

In the final analysis, a good and natural sense of morality is based on the following statement: Respect each other’s right to life.

It’s really that simple. Good intentions, decisions, and actions (virtue) are those that respect everyone’s right to life. Bad or evil intentions, decisions, and actions (vice) are those that interfere in any possible way with the right to life of an individual or a group of individuals.

When people talk about equality between individuals in society, the only true equality that can ever exist is when it comes to their right to life — everyone has an equal right to life, granted by the universe.

Having the right to life would have no meaning if you couldn’t also have the opportunity and freedom to actually live your life. This means the freedom to be able to live your life as you choose, provided that you don’t interfere with the right to life of other people. Because freedom cannot exist when you curtail other people’s freedom; you can’t have freedom by destroying it.

A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. Thomas Jefferson, “Rights of British America” (1774)

So when it comes to tolerance, I’m all for letting these transgender people be free to live their lives as they wish, and to do with their own bodies anything that they wish. But if they’re going to expect — and even demand — that I play along with whatever they come up with for themselves, then I absolutely have the freedom to refuse to cooperate with that as well, especially when I find that it’s at odds with the truth and objective reality. And if I disagree with what they say, or with what they think of themselves, I absolutely have the freedom to say so. You can live your life the way you want, but you can’t expect — let alone demand — from others to approve of it and/or to go along with it.

The real issue

Most of the (online) discussions about gay, lesbian and transgender people, gender identity and related subjects are all a waste of time because they don’t address the real and underlying issue — the root cause of these symptoms. My personal research so far shows that the real underlying problem is sexual suppression and repression that’s prevalent in societies around the world.

Due to sexual suppression, children aren’t allowed to — and in most cases can’t — develop their sexuality in a free, natural and self-regulated manner and as a negative consequence of that develop very perverted sexual preferences and warped ideas about (their) sexuality. This is the root cause of people developing paraphilia, such as sexual attraction to the same sex (homosexuality), a primary sexual preference for children (pedophilia) or for animals (zoophilia), and people developing warped ideas about (their own) sexuality (gender dysphoria; transgenders).

Basically sexual suppression and repression cause severe mental damage to children as they grow up, which eventually expresses itself throughout their adulthood through various forms of neuroses. I’ll go into more details on this in the near future in my article series on sexual suppression and repression. But anyone who wants to learn more about this should study Dr. Sigmund Freud’s work, and especially the work of one of Freud’s best pupils, the very brilliant Dr. Wilhelm Reich. You can find all of Reich’s books on Amazon; I suggest getting especially his books “The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality”, “The Sexual Revolution”, “The Function of the Orgasm” and “Children of the Future”. The best quick clue I can give you is the following quote:

The sexual instincts are remarkable for their plasticity, for the facility with which they can change their aim…for the ease with which they can substitute one form of gratification for another. Sigmund Freud

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if we prevent children from freely exploring and experimenting with their sexuality and satisfying their sexual desires — which, yes, are present from early childhood; just ask Dr. Freud — then, out of pure necessity, they will still try to do so in other unnatural ways, while developing warped ideas about (their) sexuality in the process. Like Freud discovered after many years of research, they will easily “substitute one form of gratification for another” often very perverted one. It’s that simple. ¹

For example, I mentioned “transabled” people above who suffer from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). Well, it comes as absolutely no surprise to me that these people “sometimes have a sense of sexual arousal connected with the desire for loss of a limb or sense” (Brugger, P; Lenggenhager, B (December 2014). Clearly “transabled” people suffer from another one of the consequences of sexual suppression and repression in society. This just goes to show you how right Dr. Freud was, to what extent the sexual instincts “can change their aim,” and how perverted and warped other means of sexual gratification can get when people aren’t allowed to freely satisfy their sexual desires in a natural way, starting from early childhood.

The unrepressed man of the future — if there is a future — will look back at our age and wonder how we survived without all landing in the madhouse. That so many of us do land in madhouses will be accepted as the natural consequence of (sexually) repressed civilization. Robert Anton Wilson

The irony

If you can see and understand the root cause of these problems as explained above, you can also begin to understand how it’s the people themselves — especially those labelled “conservative” or “right-wing” — that create the problems that they’re now fighting against. Because they’re the ones living according to religious beliefs, dogmas and other backward ideas that promote sexual suppression and repression in society, while using the power of the criminal State to enforce their ideas on everyone.

And apparently they still have no clue that it’s their own way of living that creates the kind of environment — where children are caused severe mental damage while also warping their sexual development — that ultimately produces gays, lesbians, pedophiles, transgenders, rapists, serial killers and many other damaged people that they don’t want to live with. If you’re one of these people promoting sexual suppression and repression in society, you should start looking in the mirror. All of those people that you don’t want to live with, were your victims as children. You’re to blame for this mess.

Now, I have to be honest and mention that it’s not entirely your fault. The truth is that this system was already in place for thousands of years before you came into the world, and like all of us, you got forced and brainwashed (“culturally conditioned”) from early childhood into accepting things as they are. But now that you know, you can’t pretend anymore like you’re innocent or ignorant. Now that you know, you have to act on your conscience.

Footnotes

As the fucking brilliant Dr. Wilhelm Reich writes in his book “Children of the Future” (1950):

Young people have more than merely a right to be “enlightened”; they are fully entitled to their emotional health and their sexual joy in life. This right has been taken away from them. Countless young people have lost all awareness of their sexuality, although this has opened the way to serious psychic disturbances during puberty.

If the young person is unable for external or internal reasons to take the step to sexual intercourse and to a mature sexual life, his development is blocked and it is easy for him to start to slip backwards, i.e., to have recourse to childish fantasies that lead him away from the naturally given goal that now exists. We observe that various drives then increase in intensity. For example, the inclination toward persons of the same sex increases; the social barriers preventing sexual intercourse and the separation of the sexes are the major reasons for excessive indulgence in mutual masturbation among young people of the same sex. The lascivious desire to look at naked bodies or to expose one’s own sex organs and the temptation to have sexual relations with children also often occur for the first time at this stage. Because of pent-up sexual energy, which finds no satisfactory release, sadistic and masochistic tendencies, which are usually attenuated and kept in the background by the development of normal sexual activity, now become fully effective. It is certainly not our intention to frighten anybody by pointing out such things. We merely wish to state that the foundation for such disturbances can be laid by preventing young people from having normal sexual relations at a time when they urgently need them. We cannot ignore the facts and must fight with all means available against the sexual rules of society that cause such damage in young people. We must use all our force to make them understand that their struggle with masturbation, their feelings of guilt, their sexual deviations, are not their fault nor are they inherited; instead, they are for the most part the consequences of a society’s rules governing sexual behavior which force the development and the natural course of sexuality into one mold into which it is impossible for all young people to fit.

What is more, there are many men who have the physical and emotional characteristics appropriate to the sex organs with which they are equipped, yet they desire younger, effeminate men toward whom they behave like a man to a wife; and there are completely feminine women who behave toward harder, more masculine-looking women like a wife to a husband. These kinds of homosexuals did not become inclined that way because of physical developments but as a result of defective emotional development in early childhood, when they suffered severe disappointment at the hands of a member of the opposite sex. For example, a male child can easily become openly homosexual if the love he has for his mother is too often and too bitterly disappointed because she is a strict, harsh person. Similarly, a girl can easily be induced to become homosexual at a very early age if she is severely disappointed by her father. Such children readily withdraw their sexual desires from the opposite sex and turn instead to those of their own sex. As a rule, these early disappointments are repressed. Upon growing up, the person who has suffered such disappointments is no longer aware of them and can only recall them when he or she relives this early period of development while undergoing psychiatric treatment.

The most powerful rebuttal that we can make against the claim made by so many homosexuals that they represent a special kind of sexuality and are not an aberration, is to point out that in the course of a special kind of psychiatric treatment any homosexual can stop feeling the way he or she does, whereas a normally developed person never becomes a homosexual through this same treatment. If the homosexual behavior has not gone on too long and has not totally destroyed relations with the opposite sex, if also the person in question is not happy with the homosexual state and wishes to be rid of it, then homosexuality can be cured fundamentally by treatment, which reverses the aberrant sexual development that occurred in childhood. What we have said so far is scientifically based fact, and it can be further reinforced by pointing to the example of primitive peoples who lead a satisfying, undisturbed sexual life, who do not hinder the sexual development of their children, and among whom homosexuality is consequently unknown, except in the spiritualized form of friendship. According to the findings of Malinowski, an English ethnologist, homosexuality starts to appear among primitive peoples at the same rate that missionaries import Christian morality into these people’s natural sexual lives and separate the sexes from each other. This is also confirmed by the fact, which we observe over and over again, that wherever normal sexual relations between men and women or girls and boys are prohibited or hampered (e.g., in boarding schools, in the army or navy, etc.), homosexuality develops in proportion to the degree of sexual suppression. Thus, ignoring the cases which are physically based, we may provisionally conclude that homosexuality is a purely social phenomenon, i.e., a question of sexual education and development. The best means of preventing it is to bring up and educate the two sexes side by side and to permit sexual intercourse to commence at the right time.

↩︎

Additional Notes

Here’s a documentary by RT about transgenders who underwent sex change only to regret it later. It’s titled “I Want My Sex Back: Transgender people who regretted changing sex (RT Documentary)” and can be watched on Archive.org.

Added on September 19th, 2018 at 9:35 am
From The Daily Mail, “Transgender man identifies as a DOG and says chasing sticks and playing on all fours has brought him closer to his husband” (October 12^th 2018):

Playing fetch on all fours might seem like an unusual activity for an adult, but one man who identifies as a dog says it has brought him closer to his husband.

Tony McGinn, known as ‘Tony Bark’ to his friends, says he has been into animal role-play his entire life, and refers to himself as a ‘human pup’.

The 30-year-old, who was born female and is transgender, is supported by his husband and ‘handler’ Andrew who accompanies him to regular play dates with other role-players in their hometown of Los Angeles.

…

The couple have known each other since 2009 and have three dogs of their own, which they refer to as ‘bio dogs’.
But that doesn’t mean Tony doesn’t think of himself as a ‘real dog’. He states confidently that he ‘identifies as a dog’ and says pet play is about getting into the head-space of the animal.

…

‘For me it’s not sexual but it’s still a form of intimacy because it is a vulnerable place,’ he said. ‘It’s a bit of a power dynamic that puts Andrew in charge and I enjoy that.’
Andrew added: ‘We don’t make it sexual but I have nothing against those who do.’

Added on October 14th, 2018 at 7:01 pm
From the Daily Wire, “‘NEW TABOO?’ Surgeon Says Sex Change Regret Is ‘On The Rise’ – But No One’s Talking About It” (October 23^rd 2018):

One of the world’s top genital reconstructive surgeons says “sex change regret” is on the rise, and that more patients are coming to him to have their “gender confirmation” surgeries reversed — but that people, too afraid to be politically incorrect, just aren’t talking about it.

Professor Miroslav Djordjevic told Canada’s National Post that, for the first time in his long career as a world-renowned surgeon, people who have had sex change operations are coming to him to have them reversed, a procedure that is not just expensive but very painful.

“Those wishing the reversal,” Djordjevic told the National Post, “have spoken to him about crippling levels of depression following their transition and in some cases even contemplated suicide.”

“It can be a real disaster to hear these stories,” Djordjevic says, adding that many of these stories aren’t being heard, because the subject is considered “potentially politically incorrect,” given the current climate surrounding issues of sex and gender.

…

Djordjevic cautions that universities and other research bodies can’t ignore the trend towards de-transitioning, particularly because real people are being pushed into situations that could cause them deep psychological and, ultimately, physical harm.

Added on November 9th, 2018 at 8:35 am
Another dutch documentary by BNNVara / Zembla about transgenders who underwent sex change only to regret it later. It’s titled “Transgender Regret — A Dutch Documentary” and can be watched on YouTube (embedded below) or Archive.org.

Added on March 6th, 2022 at 9:34 am
Here’s from the New York Post, “‘I literally lost organs:’ Why detransitioned teens regret changing genders” (June 18^th, 2022):

In recent years, the number of children experiencing gender dysphoria in the West has skyrocketed. Exact figures are difficult to come by, but, between 2009 and 2019, children being referred for transitioning treatment in the United Kingdom increased 1,000% among biological males and 4,400% among biological females. Meanwhile, the number of young people identifying as transgender in the US has almost doubled since 2017, according to a new Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report.

Historically, transitioning from male to female was vastly more common, with this cohort typically experiencing persistent gender dysphoria from a very young age. Recently, however, the status quo has reversed, and female-to-male transitions have become the overwhelming majority.

Dr. Lisa Littman, a former professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University, coined the term “rapid onset gender dysphoria” to describe this subset of transgender youth, typically biological females who become suddenly dysphoric during or shortly after puberty. Littman believes this may be due to adolescent girls’ susceptibility to peer influence on social media.

Helena Kerschner, a 23-year-old detransitioner from Cincinnati, Ohio, who was born a biological female, first felt gender dysphoric at age 14. She says Tumblr sites filled with transgender activist content spurred her transition.

“I was going through a period where I was just really isolated at school, so I turned to the Internet,” she recalled. In her real life, Kerschner had a falling out with friends at school; online however, she found a community that welcomed her. “My dysphoria was definitely triggered by this online community. I never thought about my gender or had a problem with being a girl before going on Tumblr.”

…

According to an online survey of detransitioners conducted by Dr. Lisa Littman last year, 40% said their gender dysphoria was caused by a mental-health condition and 62% felt medical professionals did not investigate whether trauma was a factor in their transition decisions.

…

Until 2019, Marcus Evans was the Clinical Director of Adult and Adolescent Services at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, a publicly funded mental-health center in the UK where many youth seek treatment for gender dysphoria. But he resigned three years ago over what he viewed as the unnecessary medicalization of dysphoric adolescents.

“I saw children being fast-tracked onto medical solutions for psychological problems, and when kids get on the medical conveyor belt, they don’t get off,” Evans said. “But the politicization of the issue was shutting down proper clinical rigor. That meant quite vulnerable kids were in danger of being put on a medical path for treatment that they may well regret.”

Indeed, transitions are getting younger and hastier. Puberty blockers are commonly administered at the first sign of development to children as young as 9, according to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Testosterone and estrogen injections are frequently prescribed at age 13 or 14, despite the Endocrine Society’s recommendation of 16. And serious surgeries like mastectomies are sometimes performed on children as young as 13.

…

While in the hospital she came to the realization that her transition was a mistake. “I saw a montage of photos of me, and when I saw how much my face changed and how unhappy I looked, I realized this was all f****d up and I shouldn’t have done it. It was a really dark time.”

Added on June 21st, 2022 at 6:28 pm
The documentary “What is a woman?” by Matt Walsh released in June 2022 is excellent; I highly recommend watching it.

Added on June 21st, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Here’s from a recent study titled “Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm Following Gender-Affirmation Surgery” (April 2^nd 2024):

With the growing acceptance of transgender individuals, the number of gender affirmation surgeries has increased. Transgender individuals face elevated depression rates, leading to an increase in suicide ideation and attempts. This study evaluates the risk of suicide or self-harm associated with gender affirmation procedures.

Data from February 4, 2003, to February 4, 2023, were analyzed to examine suicide attempts, death, self-harm, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within five years of the index event. A secondary analysis involving a control group with pharyngitis, referred to as cohort D, was conducted to validate the results from cohort C.

Results

Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not (3.47% vs. 0.29%, RR 95% CI 9.20-15.96, p < 0.0001). Compared to the tubal ligation/vasectomy controls, the risk was 5.03-fold higher before propensity matching and remained significant at 4.71-fold after matching (3.50% vs. 0.74%, RR 95% CI 2.46-9.024, p < 0.0001) for the gender affirmation patients with similar results with the pharyngitis controls.
Conclusion

Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.

Added on May 18th, 2024 at 5:21 am

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Buddy Silver April 4th, 2018 at 4:09 pm

TRANSFORMATION
“Everyone treated me like a saint”—In Iran, there’s only one way to survive as a transgender person
A participant stands behind a rainbow flag during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Pulse gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in Mumbai, India June 16, 2016.

WRITTEN BY
Neha Thirani Bagri
OBSESSION
The Identity Economy
April 19, 2017

In Iran, homosexuality is a crime, punishable with death for men and lashings for women. But Iran is also the only Muslim country in the Persian Gulf region that gives trans citizens the right to have their gender identity recognized by the law. In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran not only allows sex reassignment, but also subsidizes it.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran there was no official government policy on transgender people. After the revolution, under the new religious government, transsexuals were placed in the same category as homosexuals, condemned by Islamic leaders and considered illegal.

Things changed largely due to the efforts of Maryam Khatoon Molkara. Molkara was fired from her job, forcibly injected with male hormones and put in a psychiatric institution during the 1979 revolution. But thanks to her high-level contacts among Iran’s influential clerics, she was able to get released. Afterwards, she worked with several religious leaders to advocate for trans rights and eventually managed to wrangle a meeting with Ayatollah Khomeini, the “supreme leader” of Iran at the time. Molkara and her group were able to eventually convince Khamenei to pass a fatwa in 1986 declaring gender-confirmation surgery and hormone-replacement therapy religiously acceptable medical procedures.

“The Iranian government…sees trans individuals as people with psychosexual problems, and so provide them with a medical solution”

Essentially, Molkara, the Iranian religious leaders she worked with, and the Iranian government had reframed the question of trans people. Trans people were no longer discussed as or thought of as deviants, but as having a medical illness (gender identity disorder) with a cure (sex reassignment surgery).

“The Iranian government doesn’t recognize being trans as a category per se, rather they see trans individuals as people with psychosexual problems, and so provide them with a medical solution,” says Kevin Schumacher, a Middle East and North Africa expert with OutRight Action International, a global LGBTIQ-rights organization. The policy is based on Islamic notions that gender is binary and that social responsibilities should be split between men and women. “If you’re born a man and your body is a female then in order to protect you and the wellbeing of society,” says Schumacher says, “the government is responsible for fixing the issue.”

An uncomfortable truth
For Sarah, life in Iran was divided into two very distinct parts: before and after she had gender confirmation surgery.

As a young child growing up in the late 1980s in Tehran, Sarah (who, because she is not openly trans, did not want to publish her full name) was uncomfortable wearing the clothes and playing the games traditionally associated with being a boy, and felt she did not belong at the all-boy’s school to which her parents sent her. “You are alone against all the social norms that dictate what you should do, what you should wear, how you should live,” she says.

Iranian and Afghan boys play outside at the Be’sat school in Kerman, Iran, October 23, 2016. Picture taken on October 23, 2016. REUTERS/Gabriela Baczynska – RTX2QSSH
Iranian and Afghan boys play outside at the Be’sat school in Kerman, Iran. (Reuters/Gabriela Baczynska)
She was a good student, but in high school, when puberty hit and gender roles grew starker, Sarah began to have difficulty coping with schoolwork and dropped out. “I had to deal with sexual harassment from my classmates and from other people in society on a daily basis, from everyone that thought that [I] was a girlish boy, a sissy boy,” she says. “My life as a teenager was total hell.”

Iranian and Afghan girls gather at the Emam Hasan Mojtaba school in Kerman, Iran, October 23, 2016. Picture taken on October 23, 2016. REUTERS/Gabriela Baczynska – RTX2QSS
Iranian and Afghan girls gather at the Emam Hasan Mojtaba school in Kerman, Iran. (Reuters/Gabriela Baczynska)
Despite the official policy about trans individuals, trans issues are not openly discussed in Iran. And because the government heavily censors material available on the internet (a 2013 analysis found that nearly half of the 500 most popular sites on the internet are blacklisted in Iran) Sarah couldn’t research what it means to be transgender or connect with others in the community.

Meanwhile, she felt guilty about her inability to fit in. “Everybody expected me to behave like a man and be like a man and I hated to be like that,” she says. “I wondered why I couldn’t be like other people. Why I couldn’t meet the social expectations.”

EDITORS’ NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
A woman walks past mannequins covered with Islamic clothing designed by Iranian designers while visiting an Islamic fashion exhibition in central Tehran March 1, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN – Tags: FASHION RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) – RTR2YOLC
A woman walks past mannequins covered with Islamic clothing designed by Iranian designers while visiting an Islamic fashion exhibition in central Tehran March 1, 2012. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
At 16, she decided to make a change. “If I’m not a woman, if I’m not a man, I thought at least I should be a productive person and live a…happy life,” she says. So she enrolled in university in Tehran, and began to study languages and translation skills. Even though she continued to live as a man, she grew more confident in her gender identity thanks to the more tolerant atmosphere at the university, and from her academic successes—though she was still years away from realizing she was trans.

The official view
Officially, an Iranian can be diagnosed as having gender identity disorder only after a complex series of medical tests and legal procedures including obtaining a court order, multiple visits to a psychiatrist, and physical and psychological examinations at the state’s Legal Medicine Organization. Even if you somehow figure out how to navigate this process—and Sarah did not—it can take over a year, according to a report compiled by OutRight Action International, a global LGBTIQ-rights organization.

When people do approach doctors in Iran about being transgender, the experience is not always pleasant or helpful. Amir, a 26-year-old trans man from Shiraz, Iran, told OutRight that when he approached a medical professional about his condition, the doctor tried to intimidate him:

It all started when I was eight or nine years old. My parents took me to see a doctor because I kept saying I was a boy. The doctors never talked to me. They just told horrible and terrifying stories to shut me up. They said things like “you will die if you undergo [sex reassignment surgery],” or “many girls who wanted to become boys died during the surgery”

All of them treated me like I was delusional…. They would tell me: “It’s not possible, you were born like this.” But I knew I had to do this operation and change my sex. I was convinced there was a way and I was just looking for some kind of confirmation, from someone, who would tell me “yes, it’s possible!” Instead, one of the doctors gave me pills, and another other one injections…. [Another] told me to “get out and close the door behind [me],” as if I was a dirty and untouchable person.

If an Iranian is officially diagnosed with gender identity disorder, the government issues the authorization for them to legally start the sex reassignment process, and at the end of that process the court issues a new identity card, with a new gender listed. In other words, while Iran does not mandate that all trans individuals have the surgery, it is not possible to change your gender marker on official documents without undergoing the surgery.

EDITORS’ NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Identifications are seen on a desk at a mosque used as a polling station during the parliamentary election in central Tehran March 2, 2012. Iranians voted on Friday in a parliamentary election which is expected to reinforce the power of the clerical establishment of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over hardline political rivals led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN – Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS RELIGION) – RTR2YQBS
Government-issued identification placed on a desk as a mosque in Tehran. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
Over the last decade, with high-profile clerics and academic centers advocating for trans rights, social awareness on the issue has grown, says Schumacher. In 2007, Molkara established the Iranian Society to Support Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder, the first legally registered trans advocacy group. In 2008, the BBC reported that Iran was second only to Thailand in the number of sex-change operations performed, and the country’s surgery industry still attracts patients from all over the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Between 2006 and 2014, nearly 1,400 people applied for permission for the process according to government figures published in Iranian media.

There are even Iranian movies about accepting trans identities: 2012’s Facing Mirrors was something of a social turning point, giving local journalists a chance to address the issue publicly. The film’s release was even covered by state-run television and radio channels.

“I was so scared of the ramifications of what I was going to do, because I thought I [would] lose everyone and everything that I had fought for.”

Nevertheless, stigmas remain, reinforced by the notion perpetuated by the government that being trans is a medical problem. Outright’s report found that trans individuals are often subjected to bullying, domestic violence, and social discrimination. In some cases, family members disown trans relatives. Openly trans people often can’t get jobs, and when employers find out an employee is trans they are often fired. Trans individuals can’t rent houses or apartments easily and find it hard to get married because families don’t welcome the idea of having a trans son- or daughter-in-law.

All of which is why when Sarah finally realized that she was trans, when she was in her early 20s and already graduated from college, she did not feel comfortable coming out in public. “Only my family members and few of my close friends knew about it,” she says. “I had to hide everything.”

Making the decision to go through with gender-confirmation surgery was fraught with uncertainty. “On one hand I really wanted to do that and be free and liberated from all the problems of my past,” says Sarah. “On the other hand I was so scared of the ramifications of what I was going to do, because I thought I [would] lose everyone and everything that I had fought for. My university degree, my job, everything. I saw myself having to stand against the entire world.”

EDITORS’ NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
An Iraqi man holds his identification as he waits to cast his vote at a polling station in Dolatabad area southern Tehran March 7, 2010. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN – Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) – RTR2BBUQ
An Iraqi man holds his identification as he waits to cast his vote at a polling station in Dolatabad area southern Tehran March 7, 2010. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
Practically, she did not have the means to go through with the surgery and live independently. According to OutRight’s report, the cost of the gender-confirmation surgery in Iran is $13,000 and hormone-replacement therapy costs $20-$40 a month—and the average Iranian’s monthly income is about $400.

The government does offer some limited financial support for gender-confirmation surgery, hormone-replacement therapy, and psychosocial counseling. But funds are limited and government officials decide on a case-by-case basis which individuals qualify. In 2012, the government announced that health insurance companies must cover the full cost of sex-change operations, according to a BBC report. But OutRight has found that insurance companies still often decline to cover some forms of transition-related care, on the basis that they are cosmetic and not medical.

“The government pays a lot of lip service but the actual services that they provide are extremely limited,” says Schumacher. “You talk to many people and they tell you that they have been waiting for many years, hoping to receive some government assistance for these medical bills, but they are still waiting.”

The challenges of being trans in Iran
For those who don’t get the surgery, life in Iran is exceedingly difficult.

Sharia-based laws mandate segregation of men and women in schools and public transport, and Iranian law requires men and women to wear “gender-appropriate” clothing in public spaces. Women are expected by law to wear a hijab, which means they must dress modestly and cover their head, arms, and legs. Traditionally, this is interpreted as a long jacket, called a manteau, accompanied by a headscarf. Failure to conform to this is a crime and could result in arrest or assault at the hands of vigilantes.

Women wait for a bus in central Tehran, Iran August 24, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples – RTX1PH2R
Women dressed in “hijab”wait for a bus in central Tehran, Iran. (Reuters/ Darren Staples)
“If their appearance is not completely male or female, they are even stopped in the streets by the moral police in Iran,” says Saghi Ghahreman, president of the Iranian Queer Organization based in Canada. These are the undercover agents deployed by the police to patrol public spaces looking for men and women dressed or behaving in a manner deemed un-Islamic, The Guardian reported in 2016. The moral police crack down on loose-fitting headscarves, tight overcoats, shortened trousers for women and necklaces and shorts for men.The laws are often extended to cover new fashions. For instance in 2010 Iran banned ponytails, mullets, and long, gelled hair for men; in 2015 the country cracked down on “homosexual” and “devil worshiping” hairstyles along with tattoos, sunbed treatments, and plucked eyebrows for men.

Morality police line up men with unacceptable hair styles in front of the media during a crackdown on “social corruption” in north Tehran June 18, 2008. Picture taken June 18, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAN) – RTX73ZU
Morality police line up men with unacceptable hair styles in front of the media during a crackdown on “social corruption” in north Tehran June 18, 2008. (Reuters/Stringer)
Hasti, a 30-year-old Iranian trans woman from Khansar, told OutRight that she was frequently harassed by Iranian police for her feminine appearance and makeup. “The [police] would lift up my dress, look at my ID card and ask me if I was a man or a woman,” she said. “In the end they would force me to sign a pledge letter [to promise that I would no longer dress as a woman] and then release me.”

A policeman asks a woman wearing bright coloured clothes for her identification papers at a morals police checkpoint in Tehran June 16, 2008. Iranian police have launched a more extensive crackdown on “social corruption” such as women flouting Islamic dress codes, the Farhang-e Ashti newspaper reported on Monday. The authorities usually launch crackdowns before the hot summer months when women like to wear lighter clothing such as calf-length pants and brightly coloured scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair. Picture taken June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAN) – RTX70YA
A policeman asks a woman wearing bright coloured clothes for her identification papers at a morals police checkpoint in Tehran June 16, 2008. (Reuters/Stringer)
Because women are expected to get married at a young age and produce children, trans people who have not gone through the surgery are sometimes forced into marriage.

Worse, a trans person who is not legally recognized can be accused of homosexuality and face the death penalty. In fact, in some cases gay people in Iran decide to undergo the surgery because the alternative is death. “The sex change operation is most of the time forced on trans people by the culture and by the government,” says Ghahreman.

Making the transition
Sarah spent six years preparing mentally and financially to go through with the surgery. She describes that period as one of the darkest phases of her life. “I was so depressed and anxious about everything,” she says. “At that time almost all the transgender people I saw in Iranian society were involved in prostitution, were isolated, were ostracized by the society and their family. I didn’t see any successful transgender people. I was afraid if I did it myself, my life would turn into a kind of new misery.”

“The sex change operation is most of the time forced on trans people by the culture and by the government”

But she stuck with the plan: she worked in a managerial job, living and dressing like a man, while saving for the surgery. When she had enough money, she decided to travel to Thailand for the surgery; despite the high number of gender confirmation surgeries performed in Iran, the quality of the work is poor. “The operations are done by surgeons that are not professionally trained,” says Ghahreman. “Almost all of the trans people who have operations in Iran are suffering from many side effects that disable their body. Every trans person I have met in the past 10 years, they have a lot of pain because of the surgery and they cannot have normal or pleasurable intercourse.”

Women adjust their headscarves as they walk along a sidewalk in Tehran October 11, 2007. Iranian police have warned 122,000 people, mostly women, about flouting strict Islamic dress codes since April and nearly 7,000 of those attended classes on respecting the rules, a newspaper said on Thursday. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN) – RTR1UT20
Women adjust their headscarves as they walk along a sidewalk in Tehran. (Reuters/Raheb Homavandi)
When she was 28, Sarah had sex reassignment surgery. “I turned into a whole new version of myself which I loved so much,” she says, likening the process to dying and being reborn. I felt more liberated than what I was in the past. Because in the past I was imprisoned within the framework of my body and my former identity. After the surgery, I got liberated from all those things. For me, anything was better, anything. At least after the surgery I got to enjoy some basic rights that I didn’t enjoy before the surgery.”

Afterwards, she was surprised to find that “almost everyone was very welcoming and very supportive.” Sarah had worried government officials would harass her during the legal process after the surgery, but “everyone treated me like a saint,” she says. “They adore me so much and they admire me so much for doing such a courageous thing—they respect me on a whole different level. I didn’t even expect that—to be respected by people for being a transgender. But it all happened after the surgery.” And, all of a sudden, she could wear the clothes she wanted, change her name, and live the lifestyle of her choice.

A woman holds her identification in front of her face as she rests after voting at a polling station during Iran’s parliamentary election in southern Tehran March 2, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN – Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS RELIGION) – RTR2YR85
A woman holds her identification in front of her face as she rests after voting at a polling station during Iran’s parliamentary election in southern Tehran March 2, 2012. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)

“I felt I was a monkey at the zoo”

Not everyone has such a positive experience with Iranian officials. Assal, a trans woman who travelled back from Iran after undergoing the surgery in Thailand told OutRight she was harassed by Iranian border police agents who passed around her medical documents to each other and laughed at her. “I felt I was a monkey at the zoo,” she told OutRight.

And despite the support, Sarah never came out officially. Instead, she began to live as a woman in Iran. “The people who know me from the past, they know that I am a transgender, but the people who know me after the surgery, they have no idea of who I was,” she says. “They just think that I am a straight woman.”

Sarah stayed in Iran for six years after surgery. Now 36, she lives in Canada and works as a freelance journalist and translator. But she returns to the country of her birth frequently, and helped found an organization for trans rights there with Maryam Khatoon Molkara. “The culture needs to change,” says Sarah. “The society needs to change its mindset towards people who not like the mainstream. It doesn’t matter if they are gay, bisexual, or trans.”

Reply
Beelzebub July 30th, 2018 at 3:27 am

Wow, Karel Donk, you are one ignorant, hateful cunt. You’re a shitty writer as well, so you ought to face the reality that you can’t write or even think above a middle school level, and give up trying to identify as a writer or an intellectual.

Reply
- Karel Donk July 30th, 2018 at 8:43 am
  
  Why don’t you counter my arguments instead of coming with personal attacks? What’s that? You can’t?
  
  Reply
Carl August 7th, 2018 at 12:24 pm

I am a homosexual male who has known since I was around 5 or 6 I liked boys. The part that gave me the issues were when I would hear people say very hateful and ignorant things about homosexuality. They are all going to hell, they are disgusting, no right to live, etc. it was ingrained into my psyche that I was useless disgusting and I was going to burn in hell for eternity.

So I tried my hardest to be straight and like girls, Did’nt work. So at about 11 I began attempting suicide and self mutilating my self. I figured I needed to be punished. When that wasn’t enough I thought well I don’t want to live life waiting for hell so I’m just going to kill myself. When I came out my family was okay with it, but I still wanted to die I had taken numerous pills Xanax, Vicodin etc. tide, have numerous scars and slitting my wrists or thinking of just walking into a busy interstate for a diesel to just flatten me. Never did work and believe me I tried. Then about 19 I realized that the Universe, God, or whatever had a plan for me.

Today I am happy with who I am, but I am not happy that the parents of small children allowing their child to take hormones and have gender reassignment surgery. children’s brains are not completely formed and may regret the decision later. Let them
have time to think about it like until there ready later in life . Sometimes your thoughts may be influenced by the media, entertainment, etc and you need to think about that decision because it is life changing and permanent. But when your a child you are spontaneous and don’t always make the wisest decisions. But if a man or woman wants to change to the opposite sex that’s cool with me. And I will respect that decision. Will they ever naturally be that gender? No, but that’s who they want to be and I will call them what gender they have chosen.

Reply
- Leo November 21st, 2020 at 5:39 am
  
  Although the saying goes ‘the truth will set you free’, i believe in using a white lie. I know some people that have problems with ‘gender identity’. I will not address them different from what they show. Why rub it in ?
  Imo the truth is an evolving reality. And there are several levels of understanding in each person. When these levels are not in line then that shows in outward events. So people act angry because we do not give them what they want. But the real anger is on a psychic level, ‘i don’t know how to handle this’.
  Society in general is not very supportive (in truth seeking and finding). Living a lie (as a gender transformed being) will sort things out (in the long run).
  
  Reply
  - Karel Donk November 21st, 2020 at 9:08 am
    
    It’s not about “rubbing it in”; it’s more about giving the correct and honest feedback so that the person may benefit from that (if they want to). Without truthful feedback, you can’t expect the person to reap any lasting benefits for the long term. In fact, you may even be contributing to deterioration of their life if you don’t tell the truth (as in the case of transgenders going too far and ruining their life, often committing suicide).
    
    I know it’s difficult to tell the truth, and they might not understand it, but it’s the right thing to do, also with regard to respecting their right to life.
    
    Reply
Cultural Marxism September 24th, 2018 at 12:45 pm

It’s like islamofascism without the islamo

Reply
kareldick September 25th, 2018 at 10:36 am

Nobody gives a shit you fucking neckbeard. Stick to writing C++ templates. Your opinion on trans people isn’t wanted.

Reply
Nikos September 15th, 2019 at 1:56 pm

To be honest 1) I read half your article and 2) I was in a hurry to comment something.

If someone indeed comes to me and says that they are cat, as you mentioned, I wouldn’t try to change their mind. I would either say nothing or that they are correct. It is not my job to correct them, I am not professional and trained for this. Besides, can you imagine (considering they are not trolling) how strong this idea is for them? You really think that if you tell them the truth (like no one has tried for them before) they are going to believe you and instantly or belatedly become “human” again? One scenario is that they will get furious towards you.
These people probably need psychotherapy to get helped. Indeed, as I remember, Alice Miller in her book “The Body Never Lies” referred to these two methods of active listening in case of something serious like what you mentioned: you either say nothing or you tell them they are right.
In this case, you don’t lie to yourself. You are secure with the truth. It is just a serious issue.

Reply
- Karel Donk September 15th, 2019 at 5:27 pm
  
  It’s not about them believing you, or trying to change their mind. It’s about morality. If you know something that might benefit or help someone else, it’s your moral responsibility to tell them. They may not want to trust you or listen to you, but you should at least do your part in telling them. After that it’s up to them what they do with it.
  
  One example that I often use is this: Let’s say you were on your way to a shop that is very far from your home to buy something. And let’s say that the shop was closed that day, but you didn’t know about it. But your neighbour knows, and while you get out of the house, they overhear you telling someone you were on your way there. What would you want your neighbour to do? Tell you that the shop is closed, or, not tell you and you wasting a lot of time going there to find out that it was for nothing? Of course, if they tell you that the shop is closed, it’s up to you to trust them. But I think you can see that it would not be very nice of the neighbour if they decided not to tell you and let you waste your time.
  
  In summary, if someone believes something that you know isn’t right, it’s your moral responsibility to at least tell them. What they do with the information is up to them.
  
  Reply
  - Nikos September 15th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
    
    Karel!! The example you used is an everyday simple, healthy example! Of course I would tell them that the store is closed!
    But my case is completely different!
    If a mentally ill person comes to you and says confidently that is he is the Great Alexander, this is a very different case!
    So, since the subject of your article has to do with the “variations” of the genders, I would say that the results of telling the truth can vary greatly… For me, it is not a subject of morality any more, you cant do anything in the majority of the cases I would say.. You protect yourself and this is very moral!
    
    Reply
    - Karel Donk September 15th, 2019 at 6:05 pm
      
      You would tell the mentally ill person that he is not the Great Alexander. He might not listen but who knows, it may cause him to think and perhaps snap out of his craziness when enough people tell him. Certainly telling him that he is right will help to keep him crazy. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for helping to keep him crazy.
      
      Now, if it’s about protecting yourself from violence, I can understand why you may not want to speak up and prefer to stay quiet.

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