The RLE is a discriminatory process but what is even more oppressing are the impacts it has on the lives of the people forced to endure it. One of the biggest impacts felt by transgendered people during this time frame is that employment can become difficult. Because the person is not legally the gender in which they are living lots of employers do not understand the situation and therefore won’t hire transgendered people during their RLE, or they fire them because of it.
Transitioning is already a very stressful time for a transgendered person, the RLE adds further debilitating stress by focusing the person’s mind on the test instead of on living their lives. If the “patient” does not prosper during their year in RLE it is not contributed to this stress but to the fact that they must not really be a transgendered person or that they don’t want the surgery bad enough. During the RLE the person must appear eager enough for surgery or it can be further delayed, this add an extreme amount of pressure to the individual going through such a huge change.
Something as simple as going to the toilet in public becomes a huge ordeal for a person in RLE. According to the test you must act fully in your desired gender, but having not had SRS causes obvious difficulties.
The RLE is also when transgendered people are the most vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and violence (http://www.genderadvocates.org/reports/supp98a.pdf). So for some passing the test becomes a matter of life and death.
Transitioning is already a very stressful time for a transgendered person, the RLE adds further debilitating stress by focusing the person’s mind on the test instead of on living their lives. If the “patient” does not prosper during their year in RLE it is not contributed to this stress but to the fact that they must not really be a transgendered person or that they don’t want the surgery bad enough. During the RLE the person must appear eager enough for surgery or it can be further delayed, this add an extreme amount of pressure to the individual going through such a huge change.
Something as simple as going to the toilet in public becomes a huge ordeal for a person in RLE. According to the test you must act fully in your desired gender, but having not had SRS causes obvious difficulties.
The RLE is also when transgendered people are the most vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and violence (http://www.genderadvocates.org/reports/supp98a.pdf). So for some passing the test becomes a matter of life and death.
