Do-It-Yourself castration by UK transgender
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:26 pm
The results are thankfully positive:
http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news?articleid=3096750
Builder does his own D-I-Y operation
By Sally Murrer
A MALE boss at Women Builders construction firm took do-it-yourself to extremes when he decided to change sex.
Using a kitchen knife and rubber bands, Howard Shelley carried out a home castration.
He did it, he says, because doctors took too long to recognise that he wanted to become a woman.
"It was absolute agony but I did it because I had to," he told the Citizen in an exclusive interview.
"I know some people might think I am crazy but they don't understand. To me it seemed the logical thing to do and the only way I could make people believe I had serious gender issues," he said this week.
Six weeks after the castration, Howard is at work as normal in the Bletchley offices of Women Builders, the award-winning company launched by his wife Janet, who was recently awarded an MBE for her services to the construction industry.
He wears trousers and a white polo shirt stitched with the company logo.
"I suppose people expect me to wear a frock or something but I'm not a frock person," he grins.
"Neither am I gay. Nor a transvestite. I am simply someone who, for as long as I can remember, has wanted to be a woman.
I hid it for years God knows, I hid it well, but it reached the stage where I simply could not hide it any longer."
Janet, happily married to Howard for 15 years, did not have a clue about her husband's gender confusion until he made his confession just four months ago.
"I understood," she says simply. "He's still the person I married and we will always love each other to bits. I'm just angry because he was forced to resort to such extreme measures."
Howard initially went to his GP to ask for medication to block the production of the male hormone testosterone and he was referred to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder.
"I wanted to be referred to a gender identity specialized for a full sex change op. I told them: 'Without help, I will take the matter into my own hands.'"
Howard researched the details of castration on the internet. He chose a Thursday morning, while Janet was at work, to perform the op stone cold sober and without painkillers.
"It took six or seven minutes. I did it carefully but I did it well. I always say, if you do a job you have to do it
properly.
"Afterwards I drove myself five miles to the doctors where I
demanded an appointment immediately."
Amazingly, after just three days in hospital, Howard was healed sufficiently to come home.
Now he has finally been referred to a specialist London clinic and is awaiting health authority approval for funding to begin female hormone treatment.
He has chosen his new name, Holli, for when he will start living as a female.
The couple are living apart, though they are still friends. Their children are being "totally supportive".
"The only problem has been malicious gossip from former
employees of the company who are trying to make the whole thing out to be tacky and sensational," said Janet.
"I don't know how our customers will react but we hope they will understand.
"At least Howard can hold his head up high now and be proud of who he is a brave, sensitive person."
http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news?articleid=3096750
Builder does his own D-I-Y operation
By Sally Murrer
A MALE boss at Women Builders construction firm took do-it-yourself to extremes when he decided to change sex.
Using a kitchen knife and rubber bands, Howard Shelley carried out a home castration.
He did it, he says, because doctors took too long to recognise that he wanted to become a woman.
"It was absolute agony but I did it because I had to," he told the Citizen in an exclusive interview.
"I know some people might think I am crazy but they don't understand. To me it seemed the logical thing to do and the only way I could make people believe I had serious gender issues," he said this week.
Six weeks after the castration, Howard is at work as normal in the Bletchley offices of Women Builders, the award-winning company launched by his wife Janet, who was recently awarded an MBE for her services to the construction industry.
He wears trousers and a white polo shirt stitched with the company logo.
"I suppose people expect me to wear a frock or something but I'm not a frock person," he grins.
"Neither am I gay. Nor a transvestite. I am simply someone who, for as long as I can remember, has wanted to be a woman.
I hid it for years God knows, I hid it well, but it reached the stage where I simply could not hide it any longer."
Janet, happily married to Howard for 15 years, did not have a clue about her husband's gender confusion until he made his confession just four months ago.
"I understood," she says simply. "He's still the person I married and we will always love each other to bits. I'm just angry because he was forced to resort to such extreme measures."
Howard initially went to his GP to ask for medication to block the production of the male hormone testosterone and he was referred to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder.
"I wanted to be referred to a gender identity specialized for a full sex change op. I told them: 'Without help, I will take the matter into my own hands.'"
Howard researched the details of castration on the internet. He chose a Thursday morning, while Janet was at work, to perform the op stone cold sober and without painkillers.
"It took six or seven minutes. I did it carefully but I did it well. I always say, if you do a job you have to do it
properly.
"Afterwards I drove myself five miles to the doctors where I
demanded an appointment immediately."
Amazingly, after just three days in hospital, Howard was healed sufficiently to come home.
Now he has finally been referred to a specialist London clinic and is awaiting health authority approval for funding to begin female hormone treatment.
He has chosen his new name, Holli, for when he will start living as a female.
The couple are living apart, though they are still friends. Their children are being "totally supportive".
"The only problem has been malicious gossip from former
employees of the company who are trying to make the whole thing out to be tacky and sensational," said Janet.
"I don't know how our customers will react but we hope they will understand.
"At least Howard can hold his head up high now and be proud of who he is a brave, sensitive person."