About 1 in every 2,000 newborns are born intersex , with a few others the result of surgical accidents. Imagine you were one of these individuals and you weren't allowed to have sex reassignment surgery because the whole world looked down upon it. How would being an intersex individual affect your self-esteem? How would people react once they found out? Could you ever find a partner in life? I ask you to ask yourself these questions before you go against sex reassignment surgery.
Transsexuals can be found in high or low paying jobs, can be white or black, can be boy or girl, or can be found in all areas around the world. Yet, where jobs are concerned, some transsexuals find themselves working at one or two levels lower than their full capacity because of ridicule by their peers. In order to build up their self-esteem most transsexuals opted to have a sex reassignment surgery, however, people today are continuing to put them down. If you look closely at sex reassignment surgery you will see that it is nothing more then changing something that you don't like about yourself, just like a hair cut or plastic surgery. So honestly if you are completely against someone changing something about themselves to build up self-esteem, then you should also be against chaning you hair color or having plastic surgery.
Some of you may believe that sex reassignment surgery should be outlawed because no one should play the role of God in choosing what sex they are. But what happens when genetics comes into play? One common cause of intersex, congenital adrenal hyperpolasia or CAH, is found in babies. It is an effect of a 21-hydroxylase deficiency causing the individual to be born genotype XX yet produced massive masculinizing hormones. These overproduced hormones results in a girl with a large clitoris that it looks like a small penis. Luckily, this form of intersex can be fixed through surgery.One of the the greatest needs of humans is to feel accepted, yet, a person can't be feel accepted if they are self-conscience about their bodies. I say that if a person displays effects from an intersex disease they should have the same chance to feel accepted by society as everyone else by having sex reassignment surgery to be changed into a one sex individual.
Now consider if you need sex reassignment surgery not because of a genetic disorder but instead of a surgical error. In a recent Sentinel Event Alert message sent our in August 1998 by the Joint Commission showed a reported 150 cases of surgeries done on the wrong part of a persons body. Do you still believe we should out law sex reassignment surgery? Just think about it, if you were put into this situation wouldn't you want the chance to "return to normal". Well if you would want the option to have another surgery to correct the previous surgical errors then how could up out law sex reconstruction surgery?
You probably don't believe you will be affected by a hormone imbalance or a surgical mistake and you're probably right. But don;t just think about yourself, think about all of those who are suffering from these unfortunate circumstances and are facing being self-conscience or being made fun of by society.
Reflection
I feel the debate went really well and both my opponent and I made valuable points. I believe my opponent was able to play off of my points well which made the debate more interesting. However, I think the rebuttal could have gone better because my opponent and I ventured off from our topic. Also I think I should have practiced a little more because I had trouble pronouncing some of the words. Overall I think out debate was really informative and sparked interest in the audience.
Sources
http://www.pfc.org.uk/files/Trans_Myth_Busters.pdf
Human Genetics pg. 119- Sex reassignment: Making a Biological "He" into a Social "She"
Section of Obstetrics sand Gynaecology "Genetic Errors of Sex Development" by Dr. Cedric O Carter
California and Western Medicine"Common Surgical Errors" by Harold E. Crowe
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It's a very well organized speech and presents your arguement in very convincing way. Your use of rhetorical questions and hypothetical situations help make your arguement strong. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThe speech has very vaild points, it allowed me to saee an opposing veiws. I like your sited sources.
ReplyDeleteLove the poem! :)
ReplyDeleteI like how your speech was very organized and touched on multiple points of being for changing a "he" into a "she". How you mentioned that some people are born with intersex and some have it as a result of accidents in surgery. Through your pro speech and CJ's con speech in your debate in class, I was able to see both sides of why you may or may not be for changing a biological "he" into a "she". Great Job =D
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your posts. I think you present a very good argument for turning a biological 'he' into a social 'she'. One of the things that really struck me in your argument was when you said "don't just think about yourself, think about all of those who are suffering from these unfortunate circumstances." This is a good debating tactic, as it causes people to reflect on how they would feel if they were suffering from CAH. I feel that, a lot of the time, our societal reaction to the idea of a sex change is instant and not favorable. But we don't really take a chance to think how we would feel stuck between two worlds.
ReplyDeleteTo play Devil's advocate, I would say that we need definite rules or guidelines to determine whether or not a sex change is necessary. Should it be allowed when there is not a genetic or medical problem? And how strict are the guidelines-- in what instances is a sex change deemed ok? Another point I would make against it (playing Devil's advocate again) would be that by allowing us to correct surgical errors, does it make them any less significant? Does it allow surgeons to dismiss their mistakes as 'fixable'?
Anyways, hope these could be some interesting talking points we could use.
I think that you did your research very well and did very well on your presentation. However, it seems like you focused mainly on the scientific reasons on why this operation should take place. I think it would've benefited you to mention how some of these transsexuals felt before, and after, their operation. Other than that I think you did fine.
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