Choice and Sixteen
I was going through my news sites today after class, and came across a link to this article. (No, I’m not going to say where I found it because I’m going to need all the help I can get to create interesting posts.)
In our discussion we touched briefly upon a person’s choice to have surgeries that affect their gender (and genitals) in some way, and it seemed like we were having trouble deciding when a choice was a conscious one. When are children able to decide for themselves whether they should have a surgery? This article intrigued me because not only is Kim ‘completely’ female but she also made the decision on her own to begin treatment.
In Germany, such operations are not usually allowed until the patient is 18.
However Kim managed to convince doctors when she was just 12 that she should have the surgery.
By 14 she was officially registered as a girl - and was already famous for her choice.
The costs of her procedure were covered by health insurance as her condition was officially diagnosed as an illness.
Also fascinating to me, and fitting into our discussion, is the fact that her reassignment surgery was completely covered by health insurance because it was diagnosed as an illness. I’m not sure what the protocol is in the US, but I don’t think that this is the case. True, she may be somewhat famous not only for her choices but also for her music career, but I think that this article is very pertinent to what we have been discussing. It may have appeared in the not-so-great-journalism that is the Daily Mail, but I think that it is wonderful to hear about, especially in light of our recent discussions.
Kim, a 16 year old transgendered German pop singer
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Hmmm. Most insurance companies in the US will not cover “gender reassignment” surgery. (Ugh, don’t even get me started on the name of THAT.)
Question for you, Sugar: pretend for a moment that you want to have surgery to put your body to be more in line with your gender. You don’t have the cash to do it, and your insurance will only pay for it if you agree to be diagnosed with an illness. What would you do?
Ryan