The literature on sexual reassignment surgery taken as a whole, doesn't support McHugh's claims. First, the Karolinska Institute study [0] doesn't show the eff

The literature on sexual reassignment surgery taken as a whole, doesn't support McHugh's claims. First, the Karolinska Institute study [0] doesn't show the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of sexual reassignment surgery. From the discussion section: >It is therefore important to note that the current study is only informative with respect to transsexuals persons health after sex reassignment; no inferences can be drawn as to the effectiveness of sex reassignment as a treatment for transsexualism. In other words, the results should not be interpreted such as sex reassignment per se increases morbidity and mortality. Things might have been even worse without sex reassignment. Additionally, the line about "The study revealed that beginning about 10 years after having the surgery, the transgendered began to experience increasing mental difficulties" is speculation. The study didn't break down participants' mental health year by year--just their mortality risk. Next, the Johns Hopkins study. As far as I can tell, the Johns Hopkins study, while a randomized control trial, surveyed just 50 people [2]. It's not clear that you would get the same results after 30 years of social and medical progress, either. A metastudy further suggests that the Johns Hopkins study is an outlier [3]. Third, the studies of children. I wasn't able to find links to these studies, but going off of his own description gives us enough reason to reject them. The subjects of the study were children, which tells us little about sexual reassignment surgery or hormones, which are treatments only adults and teens get. (And the latter group, somewhat rarely.) His discussion of subgroups of transgender people is too ridiculous to even answer. Suffice it to say, Chelsea Manning wrote to a gender therapist months before contacting WikiLeaks [1] so the idea that her transition is a way to avoid men's prison doesn't meet even basic scrutiny. Finally, established medical organizations agree that sexual reassignment surgery is effective, including the American Psychiatric Association [4] and the American Medical Association [5]. McHugh's article does not represent his chosen studies well, let alone the larger body or literature or the scientific community. [0]: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... [1]: http://nymag.com/news/features/bradley-manning-2011-7/index4.html http://nymag.com/news/features/bradley-manning-2011-7/index4... [2]: http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=492177 http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=49217... [3]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009.03625.x/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009.... [4]: http://www.psychiatry.org/file%20library/advocacy%20and%20newsroom/position%20statements/ps2012_transgendercare.pdf http://www.psychiatry.org/file%20library/advocacy%20and%20ne... [5]: http://www.imatyfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ama_resolution_122.pdf http://www.imatyfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ama_resolu...