My name is Reann Legge and I am a woman who was Assigned Male At Birth (AMAB); I have the privilege of being afforded the opportunity to have bottom surgery, in my case vaginoplasty. This changed the shape of my genitals to match my gender identity. As I started Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in my mid 20’s and did not have any puberty suppressing drugs during my adolescents, I developed many masculine features that cannot be corrected by surgeries. If I could go back and change anything, such as starting HRT sooner, would I? The answer to that question is: “no, I like the woman I am today, changing one thing would change everything making me someone else.” If I could change one thing it would be the fascination people have with others genitals.
Someone tells others that they are a new parent, the first question typically is; “is it a boy or a girl?” Rather then “are they happy and healthy?” Asking a new parent the question of “boy or girl?” Translates to “what do their genitals look like?” Why does it mater to the friends and family what the genitals look like? One may say “because I am curious,” to which one should reply “you know there are people who are in jail because they where ‘curious’ about a child’s genitals.” Another may say “I want to know what gift to give them.” Gendering toys only reinforces old stereotypes of; Boys can do this, and Girls can do that. The world we live in today social opportunities should not be shaped regarding the shape of someones genitals.
Social and professional opportunities are still afforded to people due to their gender, and gender and the shape of ones genitals are highly correlated. The women’s rights movement aims to close the gap between genders, the Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) aim to further a gender binary system by ignoring Trans and Genderqueer/Non-binary individuals. Working off of the women’s rights movement, and not the TERF movement, it should be clear that basing anyone in a social hierarchy due to the shape of their genitals is wrong. This social hierarchy begins with the question “is it a boy or a girl?”
Reann’s Story 