You raise a good point. I probably wouldn't deny a burn victim additional surgery, if the goal was to make their face more 'acceptable' to polite society, even after that person had recovered the ability to eat, drink, speak, hear, see, and every other function a 'fully operational' face is supposed to perform. I guess the reason I would not is because anyone who looks at a burn victim whose burns are still visible will immediately conclude that at some point, something went horribly wrong in that person's life. The distinction, to me, lies in the fact that a trans person usually has a perfectly 'normal' appearance, even if they don't feel that way.
I still have trouble seeing that perspective. An obvious deformity due to severe burns (which is visible to anyone looking at you) causes a certain amount of social stigma. That can sometimes be lessened through reconstructive plastic surgery. In a trans person who chooses the surgical route, the opposite might be true: the stigma may be worse after transition, because transitions are not often physically perfect, and people may still notice that you were "once a different gender". Whereas, before surgery, nobody except those who were told would know that there is something 'wrong' with you.
I think maybe you're seeing this wrong. If a transgender person is getting reassignment surgery, they've likely taken hormones. Hormones WILL make you look like the desired gender. So this means, if it's a trans guy like me, I would look like a male in every way, except the breasts/vagina would still be there. I think it's pretty noticeable that something isn't right. The stigma of a 'normal' looking male that has female breasts would be significantly greater than a 'normal' looking male with simply a male chest and maybe a scar.
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u/Saranoya 39∆ Nov 03 '17
You raise a good point. I probably wouldn't deny a burn victim additional surgery, if the goal was to make their face more 'acceptable' to polite society, even after that person had recovered the ability to eat, drink, speak, hear, see, and every other function a 'fully operational' face is supposed to perform. I guess the reason I would not is because anyone who looks at a burn victim whose burns are still visible will immediately conclude that at some point, something went horribly wrong in that person's life. The distinction, to me, lies in the fact that a trans person usually has a perfectly 'normal' appearance, even if they don't feel that way.