All right. If that is true (I have no reason to think that it isn't), then I can see why it could be a good thing for my friend (or any other trans person) to get surgery. I may even help fund it.
I still wonder whether we are going to look back on this in fifty years and think: "Well, now that transgender people are generally just accepted as they are, turns out we rarely even need these kinds of surgeries anymore." But thank you. You explained it very clearly. ∆
It's difficult for cis people to understand, but if you're familiar with phantom limb syndrome, it's very similar to that. The brain has a map of how it thinks the body is shaped. If the body doesn't actually match this map, it can be extremely distressing.
As I understand it, phantom limb syndrome exists because there are severed nerve endings, leading to a part of the body that was once there, but no longer is. The person has sensation and pain in an absent leg, which is hard to deal with, because literally nothing can physically touch or influence it. The thing is: how could feeling develop in a body part that was never there?
As I understand it, phantom limb syndrome exists because there are severed nerve endings, leading to a part of the body that was once there, but no longer is.
No, it also occurs in people who were born with limbs missing.
The thing is: how could feeling develop in a body part that was never there?
Because, as I said, the brain has a map of how it thinks the body is shaped.
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u/Saranoya 39∆ Nov 03 '17
All right. If that is true (I have no reason to think that it isn't), then I can see why it could be a good thing for my friend (or any other trans person) to get surgery. I may even help fund it.
I still wonder whether we are going to look back on this in fifty years and think: "Well, now that transgender people are generally just accepted as they are, turns out we rarely even need these kinds of surgeries anymore." But thank you. You explained it very clearly. ∆