I want to change sex: Legal procedures and treatment
In addition to hormonal treatment, the process of physical change is very hard. The social context is one of the most important factors for your recovery.
The change of sex or the reassignment of sex , as it is said technically, has been one of the problems that has created the most conflict in Spain. More and more men and / or women are born in the wrong bodies and require sex change treatment. Spain is a pioneer in implementing the law that supports the transsexual operation , the Gender Identity Law and since March 2000 the treatment of gender change and the operation for transsexuals have been carried out for free and they do not have to spend money for social security (saving the man and / or woman who carried out the operation the approximate 18,000 euros that the treatment cost).
The gender change process is a long and very complex process that involves a few steps to follow and a complete medical treatment : psychological, psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy, hormonal medical treatment and plastic surgery . Throughout these harsh months of treatment, which are also the case for the transsexual’s family , there are many problems that derive from it, both health and mental. For this, the most important thing is to understand, both the transsexual man and the transsexual woman, as well as the people and family around them, what is the explanation that one day they realize that they are living in a gender that they do not feel is theirs .
As medicine has shown with several studies on gender change, the brain structure of a transsexual man and / or woman is different from other people . This may have a medical explanation: during the pregnancy process, the fetus undergoes hormonal alterations, in some cases, these alterations cause a man to be born with an excess of female hormones and a woman with more male hormones and therefore are born with a few genitalia that do not belong to their psychological sex causing the need and the feeling of wanting to have the opposite sex to the one they physically have. Once this feeling is detected, it is when the process of gender change would begin and when a solution would be found to the problems that derive this sex conflict, whichalthough they do not cause health problems if they cause mental disorders .
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PROCEDURES AND TREATMENT
Before starting the sex change surgical treatment, it is necessary for the transsexual man and / or woman to go to a psychologist to determine and verify if the person was indeed born in the wrong gender or if it is only a personality disorder or others. psychological problems. In most cases, when the transsexual visits the psychologist’s office it is because she is clear about her conflict and is ready to undergo treatment.
LEAN ON THOSE CLOSEST TO YOU DURING THIS PROCESS OF CHANGE
The next step would be to go to the endocrinologist who is the specialist in charge of providing the transsexual with hormonal treatment. To do this, they are given sex steroids that will provide the hormones they lack to be able to have the sex they want. The hormones for the transsexual woman provide them with a volume of fat that will be located in the hips, in the breasts, help to soften their voice, reduce hair and adopt a physique more typical of a woman . In the case of hormones for transsexual men, it helps them to have more hair and increase their muscle mass. This process of change lasts several months and is very hard because the intake of hormones causes many problems of change of mood, mood and even health. Sex steroids (generally they are pills) do not cost money either and the Spanish social security is also in charge of providing them.
SURFACE CHANGE IS THE LAST STEP
The last and most complex step is cosmetic surgery. Two types of operations are performed: vaginoplasty (creation of a female vagina) and phalloplasty (creation or reconstruction of a male penis). These operations are carried out using parts of fat, skin and nerves from the transsexual man or woman’s own body and last approximately five hours . This would be the operation itself of gender change but then many others must be carried out to perfect the physical appearance according to the gender that the man or woman wants .
For example, in the case of women they should then undergo a mammoplasty (breast augmentation operation) to have breasts similar to those of women or in the case of transsexuals who are operated to be a man, they should continue to strengthen their muscle mass and even operate on the jaw to make it more square similar to that of men. These secondary treatments and operations (although no less important) are what will outline and complement the sex change . These operations that men and women want to do more must already have money to do it since social security is not responsible.
After carrying out these operations, the man and the woman should not need further psychological treatment since these changes have been chosen by themselves and it is understood that they have already achieved their wishes. But in the event that they do not know how to face how to start a new life with another sexual gender, they will be given a few months of support therapy to teach them how to face their new life with a new sex, how to accept their physical changes and how to live with her new body.
To complete the change process, you can also change the old name to the name you currently want to carry . To do this, they will only have to go to the Ministry of Justice or a court of the city in which they belong that have these dependencies and request the papers for the name change. It is a quick process that does not have much difficulty.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.