Gender Identity and Health
Reflective Tag:
Transgenders have a big problem of being discriminated against and this can hurt them not only mentally, but also physically. This was the case with Robert Eads, who was a transgender that died from ovarian cancer. He had to wait for an entire year after being diagnosed because no doctors would help him due to their thoughts of loosing business. If Robert had been treated sooner, he could have had better chances of surviving longer. Through Robert’s documentary and education, transgenders are more well equipped to prevent this from happening to them.
Article:
After watching Southern Comfort I learned about Robert Eads and his life. All his young life he had been a girl. He knew all along that he wasn’t happy being a female. Robert said he felt like he was trapped in a girl’s body wanting to be a male. He finally came to realize he needed a change. That change was to become a transgender; he started his transformation later in life. Since Robert started his transformation later, the doctors thought it would be best not to change his vagina. At age 51 he was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Like any normal human being, Robert tried to seek treatment and get looked at. Everywhere Robert tried to go, turned him down because they were afraid of how it would affect their business cliental. Finally after a year of searching, he found someone to care to him. But after a year of no medical attention, the cancer had reached a point where nothing could be done. The film’s main focus was to document Robert’s sad story of being rejected by doctors because of being a transgender. It showed how it affected his life and how he couldn’t do anything about it but just wait for things to get worse. He died four years after being initially diagnosed with his cancer.
When he was at home suffering from his ovarian cancer, he said that he was much happier to be surrounded by his “chosen” family than his biological family. His “chosen” family was a group of people that had supported Robert’s decision to become a transgender. However, his biologic family hadn’t really been there for him and that’s why his “chosen” family was the most important group in his life. His non-biological family was comprised of mostly transgenders themselves who he had met at SoCo. SoCo is a conference that meets annually to discuss transgender issues and to have a social gathering in order to show each transgender that their people just like them and can relate to each other. This is where Robert gained his entire close knit friend/family group and they supported each other through everything. Each of them had gone through troubles of their own but having each other definitely helped. In going through the tough situation of Robert’s ovarian cancer the only thing he had to say about the discrimination he went through was:
“I wish I could understand why they did what they did, why they had to feel that way… And I know in a way they’ve contributed to my dying here. But I can’t hate them. I don’t hate them. I feel sorry for them… What makes me most sad is they probably felt like they did the right thing. – Robert Eads in Southern Comfort”
Now there are more and more advertisements about transgenders taking care of their bodies. Specifically, pap test. Here is a video that shows advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_uNFmZHvO0
It is clear that transgenders are much more informed and have better odds than Robert did. Robert’s story definitely helped aid awareness of discrimination and sparked a movement of equal opportunities for transgenders. There are now groups of transgenders all over the country that help transgenders find an office in which to go to for proper medical care.
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