Smoothly Weaving: Of course it's a cliche; just as no biological female can point to X, Y and Z and say "that's what it feels like to be a woman", no MTF transsexual can indicate with any degree of authority that they are "a woman in a man's body". And no, it's not specifically about hating one's genitals or feeling comfortable dressed in opposite-gender clothing - although both can be symptomatic of a more 'core' identity problem.
There isn't an authoritative answer to any of your questions, I'm afraid. Unhappiness around one's gender identity isn't readily categorisable and labels of 'disorder' and 'treatment' largely empirical - hence the long, fairly demanding assessment period at any gender clinic. Some individuals are indeed content simply to undergo transition of social role, without hormones, surgery, etc. The majority, however, require additional 'help'.
I agree that our society is, increasingly, broadly 'nurturing' of the transsexual - but, I'd argue, no more so than in any other case of 'non-emergency' medicosurgical procedure: fertility treatment, say, or virtually any cosmetic alteration. |
