Here the activists have captured some of the dictionary writers:
a type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s breasts are removed or augmented to match their gender identity
(source)
Shame on the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Here the dictionary author is advocating for a radical cause, not merely explaining the meaning of a word.
- “gender confirmation” – it’s not anything radical, folks, just confirming what the person already is
- “to match their gender identity” – (Which is what, exactly? It would seem: anything but their sex. Only that much is clear.) Anyway, it’s just a little fix for a mismatch.
What’s the big deal? Who couldn’t use a little confirmation and some identity-matching?
What “top surgery” really is depends on which sex the victim patient is. In the case of a female, here is a better definition of “top surgery”:
elective double mastectomy
or,
the voluntary surgical amputation of both healthy breasts
The result is a not-quite-male-looking chest as in the photograph at the right.
In the case of a male, “top surgery” is the installation of faux breasts, i.e. bags of liquid under the skin.
In either case, you can see the point of the jive. A little “top surgery” doesn’t sound too radical. But amputating healthy body parts (in the case of a female) or permanently installing some silicone or saline bags in one’s chest (in the case of a male), well, those do seem radical. The euphemism hides unpleasant realities from us.
When we see the plain and unembellished definitions, we naturally ask:
- Has the patient considered all the many risks and complications?
- Has she or he considered the real possibility of serious regret?
- Has the surgeon acted ethically, given that by definition no “top surgery” is medically necessary? Has he or she looked into the rates of serious regret?
