Jim Beaux
09-24-2008, 08:26 PM
Ha'aretz, Israel
Sun., September 07, 2008
Moving between the sexes
By Ruth Sinai
…
When he felt ready ({or SRS}, he applied to the committee for the approval of
sex change operations that convenes at Sheba Medical Center, Tel
Hashomer. "They said that I had to go through examinations and wait
for two years for the surgery," relates {a} young man.
…
The committee operates in accordance with a Health Ministry procedure
that was written in 1986, after a sex change operation nearly caused a
patient's death. Under the procedure, a person who wants to undergo
surgery of this sort has to receive approval from all five members of
the committee - an endocrinologist, a urologist or gynecologist, a
senior plastic surgeon, a psychiatrist and a psychologist - and to
live for at least two years in the desired gender identity. The
regulations also prohibit carrying out the operation privately, and
permits it to be performed only at Sheba.
In response to a request from the Physicians for Human Rights
organization, the Health Ministry has established a committee to
re-examine the procedure.
…
"Since the procedure was written, fundamental changes have taken place
in social perceptions and today there is awareness that people don't
fit into the traditional definitions of sex, sexuality and gender, and
there is increasing recognition of their right to protection from
violation of their basic rights," wrote attorney Dr. Yuval Livnat to
the head of the Medical Administration at the Health Ministry, Dr.
Hezi Levy.
Levy has not only accepted this argument and set up a committee to
examine the procedure, he also agreed with Livnat that the voice of
the transgenders should be heard, and appointed to the committee Nora
Grinberg, who had her surgery abroad in order to bypass the procedure
and the committee in Israel. "I was 50 years old, married with two
children and I figured that I didn't stand a chance that they would
approve the surgery for me," she says. "I knew that the procedure here
is very conservative, and I also couldn't wait for two years. I was in
deep distress and thought either I get the surgery or I jump off the
roof. The decision to travel to London saved my life," she says.
…
Dr. Ilana Berger, a social worker who is a clinician in the area of
sexuality and gender and moderates support groups for transsexuals,
says that more than 80 percent of her patients have the surgery
abroad. "At Tel Hashomer they work in an old-fashioned way," says
Berger. "The most difficult problem is with patients who have been
living in their new gender for a long time and are required to wait
for another two years. This is torture."
…
According to the recommendations of the Harry Benjamin International
Gender Dysphoria Association - an international professional
organization for the treatment of people who wish to change their
gender identity - a person who wants a sex change operation should
experience the new identity for a consecutive year in order to make
certain that he is ready.
Most transgenders do not undergo sex change operations. About half the
males who want to become women complete the process with an operation,
but only a minority of females who become men undergo surgery, in part
because constructing a penis is complicated, requires many stages and
is expensive. Many men also don't think they need a male sexual organ
to complete the process, whereas women feel that they need a vagina in
order to complete the gender experience," says Berger.
Berger relates that when she began treating transgenders in Israel in
1997, nearly all her patients were women who had been born as men.
During the past two years the ratio has reversed, and today only 20
percent of participants in the support groups that she moderates used
to be men.
…
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018616.html (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018616.html)
NB If you go to the link above for the full article, please note ALL figures quoted re numbers of TS per 1,000 population are being hotly disputed at this time.
NB HBIGDA is now WPATH.
Sun., September 07, 2008
Moving between the sexes
By Ruth Sinai
…
When he felt ready ({or SRS}, he applied to the committee for the approval of
sex change operations that convenes at Sheba Medical Center, Tel
Hashomer. "They said that I had to go through examinations and wait
for two years for the surgery," relates {a} young man.
…
The committee operates in accordance with a Health Ministry procedure
that was written in 1986, after a sex change operation nearly caused a
patient's death. Under the procedure, a person who wants to undergo
surgery of this sort has to receive approval from all five members of
the committee - an endocrinologist, a urologist or gynecologist, a
senior plastic surgeon, a psychiatrist and a psychologist - and to
live for at least two years in the desired gender identity. The
regulations also prohibit carrying out the operation privately, and
permits it to be performed only at Sheba.
In response to a request from the Physicians for Human Rights
organization, the Health Ministry has established a committee to
re-examine the procedure.
…
"Since the procedure was written, fundamental changes have taken place
in social perceptions and today there is awareness that people don't
fit into the traditional definitions of sex, sexuality and gender, and
there is increasing recognition of their right to protection from
violation of their basic rights," wrote attorney Dr. Yuval Livnat to
the head of the Medical Administration at the Health Ministry, Dr.
Hezi Levy.
Levy has not only accepted this argument and set up a committee to
examine the procedure, he also agreed with Livnat that the voice of
the transgenders should be heard, and appointed to the committee Nora
Grinberg, who had her surgery abroad in order to bypass the procedure
and the committee in Israel. "I was 50 years old, married with two
children and I figured that I didn't stand a chance that they would
approve the surgery for me," she says. "I knew that the procedure here
is very conservative, and I also couldn't wait for two years. I was in
deep distress and thought either I get the surgery or I jump off the
roof. The decision to travel to London saved my life," she says.
…
Dr. Ilana Berger, a social worker who is a clinician in the area of
sexuality and gender and moderates support groups for transsexuals,
says that more than 80 percent of her patients have the surgery
abroad. "At Tel Hashomer they work in an old-fashioned way," says
Berger. "The most difficult problem is with patients who have been
living in their new gender for a long time and are required to wait
for another two years. This is torture."
…
According to the recommendations of the Harry Benjamin International
Gender Dysphoria Association - an international professional
organization for the treatment of people who wish to change their
gender identity - a person who wants a sex change operation should
experience the new identity for a consecutive year in order to make
certain that he is ready.
Most transgenders do not undergo sex change operations. About half the
males who want to become women complete the process with an operation,
but only a minority of females who become men undergo surgery, in part
because constructing a penis is complicated, requires many stages and
is expensive. Many men also don't think they need a male sexual organ
to complete the process, whereas women feel that they need a vagina in
order to complete the gender experience," says Berger.
Berger relates that when she began treating transgenders in Israel in
1997, nearly all her patients were women who had been born as men.
During the past two years the ratio has reversed, and today only 20
percent of participants in the support groups that she moderates used
to be men.
…
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018616.html (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018616.html)
NB If you go to the link above for the full article, please note ALL figures quoted re numbers of TS per 1,000 population are being hotly disputed at this time.
NB HBIGDA is now WPATH.