The Psychopathology of “Sex Reassignment” Surgery

Abstract

Is it ethical to perform a surgery whose purpose is to make a male look like a female or a female to appear male? Is it medically appropri- ate? Sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) violates basic medical and ethical principles and is therefore not ethically or medically appropriate. (1) SRS mutilates a healthy, non-diseased body. To perform surgery on a healthy body involves unnecessary risks; therefore, SRS violates the principle primum non nocere, first, do no harm. (2) Candidates for SRS may believe that they are trapped in the bodies of the wrong sex and therefore desire or, more accurately, demand SRS; however, this belief is generated by a disordered perception of self. Such a fixed, irrational belief is appropriately described as a delusion. SRS, therefore, is a category mistake—it offers a surgical solution for psychological problems such as a failure to accept the goodness