I was reading that Dr. McGinn will do an orchiectomy if the patient has a "Gender Identity Disorder Diagnosis" from a psychologist, therapist, etc. How hard can it be to obtain such a diagnosis? I went to several female therapists, and one psychologist that was extremely sympathetic, however, I was already castrated and told her so. She understood why I had to be castrated and thought that I had a "Gender Identity Disorder." So why not pursue this avenue if you really believe you should be castrated. Comments?

In general if you go to a therapist and tell them you have gender identity issues they will not just give you a letter for hrt or surgery weather it be an orkie or grs, they will require 3 - 6 months therapy per the Harry Benjamin Standards Of Care (SOC) if they follow it before giving you a letter to just go to an Endo to get on hrt. I should know i'm M2F. i have been doing diy hrt for 9 months and wanted to get tested and do transition the right way, because i have been doing diy hrt the SOC does have provisions in it to bypass some steps, it's taken me a little over 2 months with weekly sessions to get the letter to make an appointment with the Endo. I have a friend who works in a hospital and she did find a urologist Dr. just out of residency that likes her and is going to do her orkie this Friday with no therapist letter, so there are Dr's out there that will do it, the best bet is to find a sympathetic urologist and not go the therapist gender identity route unless you want to transition M2F.

Paula.

I think almost any of the mainstream TS surgeons would be willing to do this with some paperwork from a therapist. It varies I think on how much and or how many therapists are needed.

As to if this is good. Its a worth while question to ask. And one that I've given a lot of thought to. I more easily understand our TS friends having been one gender that I'm familiar with. Is Eunuch as valid as male or female? After a lot of soul searching (Not that anyone else care) I really don't see why not! The real question is this. Should it be any different from a person who wants to go from male parts to female or the other way around? In my opinion - I don't think so.

Talking to a therapist and really getting to the core of this can't be a bad idea. I think Orchiectomy (or Castration if you like) on demand can be a really poor idea for people who have not thought this out or those who don't understand what baggage comes with being hormone deprived. Or people who are just out of their minds. I think the suggestion that people take a test drive using chemical castration drugs is only part of what the treatment ought to be. But I strongly think talking to a gender therapist at the same time is just as important. And in either case I think doing this under the care of a Doctor is a must for health and safety reasons.

Some of the things they can explore.

Is the person truly seeking to become a Eunuch or is there a deeper desire to transition to female? A GID doctor would probably be best suited to suss out this type of problem and get the person on the right direction to what they really need. And I think its a mistake to become a Eunuch and loose your sexual drive because without "any" the need to be female (If thats the core issue) may just not seem important (or much else that deals with anything sexual)

Is the person seeking this because of shame over his "male" ness? Some men seem to reject their male sex drive because they think being homosexual is "wrong" or whatever. For those people it might be much better to find out it really IS ok to be gay.

Is there some other issue thats causing this that might be better addressed and solved like sexual abuse or?

Is there just a serious mental health problem? ie is the person just crazy and thinks he wants to be sexless like Mr Spock and fly to the mother ship in a UFO like that cult of castrated Koolaid drinkers.

Hash (imported) wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:54 am I was reading that Dr. McGinn will do an orchiectomy if the patient has a "Gender Identity Disorder Diagnosis" from a psychologist, therapist, etc. How hard can it be to obtain such a diagnosis? I went to several female therapists, and one psychologist that was extremely sympathetic, however, I was already castrated and told her so. She understood why I had to be castrated and thought that I had a "Gender Identity Disorder." So why not pursue this avenue if you really believe you should be castrated. Comments?

I am an XXY"male" and I would have to go through all that same GODDAMN THERAPY BULLCRAP as everybody else. I can only wish that that pretentious Harry Benjamin club have absolutely the very worst of luck and the very worst type of karma possible both in the next life AND in the next one after that too. And I hope one of those fucking asshole CREEPS is reading this. Son of a bitches! If I were to meet any of them in person I'd tell them to their very face to TOTALLY FUCK OFF AND GO TO GODDAMN HELL! I have nothing but utter contempt for your silly ass creton bullshit. Like you assume that most of us are made of money and so you have to milk us dry?! May you spend your next life as miserable as you make it for others in this. And again GO TO GODDAMN HELL!!!!

grrr::mea nface:

Please Dev, don't hold back! Tell us how you really feel...

Vicks Vapo Rub is therapy.

Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

Gender Identity Disorder , HA.

It's more like Gender Identity Reality.

We IS what we IS.

It's society that is disordered.

Society wants us to be what they want us to be.

Whether we like it or not.

BE what you WANT to be, what you MUST be, what you NEED to be.

Society will never be happy until you conform to their expectations.

Society does not care what you want to be, what you must be, what you need to be, or what you are.

We can wear certain shoes to be taller, if we want to be taller.

We can wear contacts to change our eye color, if we want to.

We can change our hair color, if we want.

We can get a vasetomy to prevent reproduction.

But, you must admit, if you wanted any part of your body surgically removed, it would not be the norm, and would not be easy. A finger, an ear, a toe, a hand, a foot.

Oh, I could go on, but I have typed too much already. bye.

Losethem (imported) wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:14 pm Please Dev, don't hold back! Tell us how you really feel...

Damn I was going to say that!

;)

Sorry Dev, didn't mean to spoil your day. I understand your feelings, stay calm, live long and prosper! Hash

It is important to do your research before selecting the professionals you will work with in your transition to either eunuch or female. Different professionals have different philosophies about transition and the SoC. These philosophies range from rejecting the SoC entirely and allowing the patient to decide how and when to proceed entirely on her own to not only following every letter of the SoC but imposing additional and even more burdensome requirements (usually in the form of longer wait times before each step than required by the SoC).

In my case, I chose a team of individuals working together to get me started in my path to becoming female. I now realize that if it is a team, they are likely to be extremely conservative, and this will not go over well with some individuals seeking care. But I didn't know it back then, so I decided to work with them. The team consisted of a therapist, an endocrinologist, and a psychiatrist you had to pay $200 to for an additional screening before the therapist would recommend hormones (there is no requirement for this in the SoC).

I spoke with several members of the local TS community and learned that many disliked this therapist because of how much she enjoyed the gatekeeper role. Among other things, I was informed that it was usually at least double the SoC-required time before a letter for hormones would be written.

When the therapist told me that she was taking a sabbatical in a few months and could not guarantee she would be able to write me a letter by that time, I stopped seeing her. It was at that time I started looking into castration and discovered this site (though I wouldn't join until after my surgery). Within a couple weeks of my last appointment with the therapist, I had scheduled my surgery with Kimmel (obviously I was impatient ).

Later on, after I had been taking E for several months DIY, I called the endocrinologist who was a part of this team. By then I heard that if you were DIYing, an endo would be willing to take over in order to prevent harm. This one, however, was not. He said that even though the SoC specifically permit a doctor to treat someone who is taking hormones on their own and doesn't have a letter, what it "really meant" was after the person had been taking hormones on their own for five years or so. So even though I was DIYing hormones, he told me I would still need to get a letter or call him back in five years.

Now for some this conservative philosophy makes sense, and I would encourage those people to seek out professionals who share their needs. But I know a good portion of the TS and eunuch community does not approve of standards this rigid, and for those I encourage you to do your research and find someone who agrees with your beliefs (though you will have to accept responsibility for your actions if you select someone who doesn't believe in any standards).

Hi everyone,

I am TS as many of you may already know. When a doctor says he will do an orchi with a diagnosis of GID, what he means is that you need two letters from two different mental health professionals. One with at least a masters and one with at least a doctorate, who are not in practice together.

To get this diagnosis one must have been on female hormones for at least 12 months and lived in the role of the opposite sex for 12 months. In Europe it's 24 months.

These are commonly called the HBSOC o

paulault (imported) wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:41 am r the Harry Benjamin Standards

of Care. As far as I know, Kimmel was one of the few urologists that would perform an orchi without this requirement being met. So don't be fooled by verbiage that simply says "a diagnosis of GD or GID". It's not as simple as it sounds.

Elizabeth