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Surgeons slam trans beauty pageant for giving gender surgery as top prize
Surgeons have condemned a UK beauty pageant for trans women for offering gender reassignment surgery in India as its top prize.
Among the prizes for Miss Transgender 2015, ‘the winner will be awarded a voucher for full gender correction surgery in India inclusive of all hospital, travel and accommodation worth over £10,000’ ($15,260 €13,630).
But some trans people feel that offering something so basic for good health as gender reassignment surgery as a prize trivializes trans health needs.
If the winner has already had gender reassignment surgery, they can swop for procedures including body sculpting, breast augmentation or facial feminisation. The winners of five regional heats will also get vouchers for facial feminisation procedures.
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) is concerned.
Consultant plastic surgeon and BAAPS member Marc Pacifico said: ‘No ethical clinic or surgeon would ever offer to perform surgery as a prize for a beauty contest.
‘Any surgery should be carefully thought through, and any patient assessed for pre-existing medical conditions – not simply awarded surgery without having met with or discussed a surgical plan with the operating surgeon, or given time to cool off after consultation to weigh the risks as well as benefits of surgery.
‘The pressure to go ahead with a surgery (or in this case, a series of surgeries) would be tremendous, leaving the patient to making irreversible decisions in circumstances of hype, excitement and emotion, putting themselves at great risk, which could have disastrous psychological as well as physical consequences.
‘Furthermore, this prize stipulates a time limit, further pressurising the winner into having surgery.’
Pacifico is also worried the surgery is being offered abroad.
He added: ‘There can be language barriers limiting the patient’s ability to communicate a problem; and there is a lack of follow-up care, especially upon returning home.
‘If there is a complication – since no surgery is 100% guaranteed – the patient is left with no recourse, which can have dangerous, sometimes tragic repercussions.’
Jess Bradley of Action for Trans Health is concerned the pageant promotes unrealistic beauty standards.
She told GSN: ‘To provide basic healthcare as a prize for the most beautiful, according to standards most trans women may not be able to meet, is deeply harmful to trans women’s mental health.
‘It plays into the idea that our healthcare needs are cosmetic and elective rather than vital and fundamentally necessary for all trans women, regardless of how you look.’
Miss Transgender UK has defended the prize saying the terms and conditions of state ‘only participants who have given their informed consent in advance and in writing will be eligible to be considered for …medical treatment’, and this consent must be certified by ‘a magistrate or another person of similar standing’.
A list of rules also insist on screening by psychiatrists and much more. They say this protects the contestants.
In a statement issued to GSN, the organizers added: ‘Participants in Miss Transgender UK may decline the donation of medical treatment. Their informed consent is a cornerstone of receiving this donation.’
And they hit back at their critics.
‘Sadly, it is reported that the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons the trade body representing high priced elective cosmetic surgeons is attacking Miss Transgender UK and its participants in a clear attempt to protect “jobs for the boys”.
‘This is at the same time its members freely advertise their wears in newspapers, on the high street and in clinics and hospitals up and down the country.’
They believe the prize will be welcomed, particularly by trans people who have not yet had gender-affirming surgery.
‘At a time when the average wait for such treatment on the NHS is five-and-a-half years and many transgender people attempt suicide before getting the medical treatment they need, it is awful that a professional body should try to stop vulnerable transgender people getting treatment from whatever source they choose,’ the statement added.
The contest has been organized for the first time this year. The voucher for surgery in India is valid until March 2016.
The winner of the pageant will be announced at an event in London on Sunday (27 October). They will also win £5,000 ($7,630 €6,800) cash.
The post Surgeons slam trans beauty pageant for giving gender surgery as top prize appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jane Fae
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