Who thought this plot was a good idea??

As a trans person I would call this movie transphobic for a few reasons. And to clarify, I'm using transphobic in less of the literal sense of "irrational fear of trans people" and more as a word to describe something that is directly or indirectly harmful to trans people and the trans community. In most cases this is the context in which the word is used.

First, it reduces an incredibly deep, complicated, and important part of our lives into a plot point. It turns Gender Confirmation Surgery(GCS) into an obstacle the main character has to overcome. It essentially presents GCS as genital and body mutilation. An already common and harmful misconception that people have. To give any credence to this misconception is incredibly irresponsible, even if that was not the intent.

Second, while the unrealistic nature of the film could be considered a redeeming quality considering the sensitive material, it in fact makes the situation that much worse. Public knowledge about GCS is already incredibly limited. The vast majority of people do not know what a trans person goes through and a common assumption is that surgery is a one-stop-shop for all your transition needs. It perpetuates the idea that trans women are just men who had surgery and now look like women. This is incredibly harmful to trans people. Access to transition related healthcare is already difficult to come by and already heavily gated by cis people making assumptions about us.

Third, there have already been claims by people that this is "representation" for trans people. That this is a transgender action film. It is not. Trans representation is incredibly limited and it's insulting to throw this at us and say "See? We're including you!" The fact that there are any people at all who will take that bait and agree that this is a transgender movie and representative of trans experiences makes me want to rip my hair out. This is in no way representative of trans people whatsoever.



To explain how GCS and other trans-related surgeries save lives I'll have to go into a bit more depth about being trans and will largely be drawing from my own personal experiences. I know others go through these same experiences but it would be irresponsible to claim to speak for everyone. This is all going to be unrelated to the movie, so if you were just looking for a trans person's opinion on the movie you can stop reading here.

To understand the importance of surgery it's necessary to understand dysphoria. Dysphoria is the disconnect and unease between a person and their existence. With trans people this manifests in many ways: body dysphoria, voice dysphoria, genital dysphoria, social dysphoria, etc.

For me, it was all of the above. For as long as I can remember I've had constant, overwhelming, nagging feelings of discomfort with myself and my existence. However, over the course of growing up, certain things alleviated this to small degrees. Learning what transgender was, for instance, gave me understanding. Let's say 1% reduction in overall dysphoria now that I could at least identify why I was such a mess and knew there was a path I could take. 10 years later, beginning Hormone Replacement Therapy(HRT), finally sorting out my endocrine system, gave me some relief, maybe 15% to body dysphoria. Six months later, introducing myself to people with my chosen name and being perceived as the woman I knew I was gave me even more relief, maybe another 15% to social dysphoria.

But, despite all of this, I still suffered from dysphoria. My body still wanted to produced testosterone, I was just taking medication to dull it. I couldn't form intimate relationships because I suffered from severe genital dysphoria. Clothes didn't fit right, I had constant fears that someone would notice. I had constant fears I'd be outed in one ridiculous way or another because of that one thing. And all of that is besides the enormous amount of mental disconnect that still lingered. For me, bottom surgery had always been the final step and my only option for living my life normally.

All of this takes an enormous mental toll on a person. To say that the course of those ten years prior to HRT were bad would be an understatement. It was plagued with depression, suicidal thoughts, self harm, isolation. It was miserable and I consider surviving that period of my life to be one of the most difficult things I will ever accomplish. HRT saved my life, as it does for most other trans people. For me however, surgery was still my end goal. I was out of the pitch black but I was still stuck in the dark; surgery was the light at the end I was stumbling towards.

I will say flat out that if bottom surgery were an impossibility for me I would have killed myself years ago. Dysphoria is an incredibly heavy weight to carry around constantly, and that's multiplied by the difficulty in explaining what it is and the disbelief most people have when you do. Statistics show that for every two trans people you meet, one of them will likely have attempted suicide at some point in their life.

Surgery for trans people (who suffer from severe genital/body dysphoria) is as life saving as surgery to remove a brain tumor. Just because the window of opportunity is larger and slightly more flexible doesn't make it any less important. Just because no one would note the cause of death as "dysphoria" does not mean that dysphoria did not kill that person.

Disclaimer: This is from my experiences, I do not claim to speak for anyone else. All trans experiences are different and to assume otherwise is irresponsible. Many trans people do not seek to have surgery. It's a complicated and expensive procedure with a host of risks and potential complications, requiring taking months off of work or school. For some, it's a low priority and for others it's not necessary at all. This does not affect or discredit their transness in the slightest. For me, however, it was imperative to my survival.


If you read this far, thanks for taking the time to understand a trans person's perspective on an incredibly transphobic movie.

I've updated my review with a disclaimer stating that it is my opinion based on information presented in the trailer. It is more a review of the movie's concept and overtly transphobic themes, not the movie itself. If you feel that it breeches IMDB's standards feel free to report it and if it gets taken down on account of that I won't have any hard feelings.