transsexuals

A rather late comment. But I thought it is necessary.

Mak Nyahs: Rehabilitation attempts doomed to failure

I read with alarm the report in which an announcement was made that 'mak nyahs' (transsexuals) in Kuala Terengganu would possibly face forced attendance at a rehabilitation centre aimed at 'educating' them out of their feminine ways.

There is strong evidence that people such as these, whom psychologists would call transgendered or transsexual, are 'hard-wired' (very possibly biologically, from before birth) to develop the feelings and behaviour we see.

In Iran, for example, transgendered people are able to undergo sex reassignment surgery subsidised by the state, and subsequently change their legal gender status and marry. It seems it is not sufficient that Malaysia currently denies 'mak nyahs' all these rights. For now we see this unpleasant proposal to force their rehabilitation.

I don't know the success rate of so-called rehabilitation of transsexuals. Probably very low, I would imagine. And yes, biology does play a big part in the feelings and behaviors of transsexuals. However, I'd like to add that upbringing and the social environment play a very large role, as well. Same old argument of nature vs nurture, as in homosexuality. While homosexuality had been taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (due to political reasons), transsexuals are not considered normal as there is still Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM IV.

The DSM, btw, is the bible of clinical psychologists in diagnosing people.

Well, most psychologists are White and male. The DSM isn't perfect--riddled with gender, racial and cultural biases too. Most of the time, in my opinion, the DSM is used to further marginalize people who are different from the powerful majority. What's normal and abnormal? It's not so black and white, if you think about it. To what extent can you be different until you get labeled 'abnormal'?

If a man and a woman display similar symptoms, the woman will more likely get diagnosed as borderline, while the man will get diagnosed as antisocial In fact, right now, they're even considering obesity as a mental disorder. Ridiculous. Seems as if doctors have nothing else better to do than to put everyone into little neat categories to dissect and analyze.