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Notes -
Gender dysphoria and its similarities to more general body dysphoria
So consider the /r/loseit subreddit. There are a ton of people on there who hate their appearance and would like it to be different. Consider also the community of people who get plastic surgery.
Hating your body is a very universal human experience! An experience that sucks! The interesting thing here is how the different types of "hating your body" are perceived radically differently by wider society. As in:
(1) Consensus is that weight-based body dysphoria is reasonable and you should fix it by dieting. (It can also be fixed by medication-- semaglutide/tirzepatide, in particular-- but this has not achieved widespread social acceptance.) There is also a fat-acceptance movement, but this is niche and is discouraged by obesity being comorbid with a ton of medical issues.
(2) Consensus is that age-based and (more broadly) ugliness-based body dysphoria is something you should just get over instead of addressing directly. Plastic surgery exists, but it does not have widespread social acceptance, and it is socially acceptable to make fun of women whose plastic surgeries are bad enough to be noticeable.
The common line of "cosmetic surgery won't make you feel better about yourself" is contradicted by pretty clear evidence on average; a cursory google scholar search gets us https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/25/3/263/227685 , which claims the following:
(3) Gender dysphoria has, of course, gotten a huge amount of play in the media since addressing it optimally requires surgery and hormones in adolescence, when we mostly accept that people have not yet reached their full capacity for judgement. Plus, even in rich countries bio-engineering has not reached nearly the place it would need to in order to make neogenitalia function properly, or for "passing" to be easy for transitioners.
Is the current push for social acceptance of gender-based body modification something that will spread into other kinds of artificial body modification, such as plastic surgery for appearance or medications for weight loss?
I certainly hope so!
So this is a pretty common misconception when it comes to trans (and queer) people. Body dysmorphia often comes with being trans but it doesn't always. Plenty of people are trans without having or wanting any surgery at all.
Having surgery and hormones isn't the only thing thay helps trans people. It's about being socially accepted. They want to feel like they are respected and people aren't attacking them for just being who they are. Hormones and surgery can help with this because it helps some trans people fit in with what's socially expected for their gender identity. It's a different kind of social pressure from the ones anexoric people face.
I've gotten the impression from trans people I see on social media-- trans women, mostly-- that aesthetics are very important to them, and surgery and hormones help a lot with this. They want not only to be a woman, but also an attractive woman. And why wouldn't they? Attractiveness is an important quality-of-life determinant and I disapprove of pretending it's not.
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