I think it was a bad idea for Manning to identify as female. CM is already short, a pariah and rather effeminate, publicly identifying as female would just make CM more attractive to rapists.
I know preop transwomen are classed as male by the Thai penal system. They get a lot of attention both positive and negative.
And add to them those who, apart from this specific issue, feel that a convicted felon in prison for major crimes has no grounds to seek any sort of redress in any aspect of personal rights or individual dignity, regardless of whether having anything to do with the crime and the legally mandated penalty.
Manning’s ability to litigate those issues is not without limit. Under the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act which applies to suits by prisoners brought in federal distsrict court, “The court shall on its own motion or on the motion of a party dismiss any action brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility if the court is satisfied that the action is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” The way this is interpreted by most federal district courts including the federal district court in Kansas is that cases filed by prisoners are screened by the federal court and if found frivolous, dismissed on the court’s own initiative without requiring the defendants to answer.
Additionally, while prisoners may file a case in forma pauperis–without paying the filing fee up front, under the PLRA they remain liable for the entire filing fee ($400) which the court will garnish from an inmate’s prison account. Further, if an inmate has three cases dismissed as frivolous, the inmate’s right to file without paying the fee is terminated.
Finally, the PLRA prohibits claims for money damages for emotional distress by inmates without accompanying physical injury.
http://jailhouselaw.org/brief-summary-prison-litigation-reform-act/
What this means for Manning as a practical matter is that she probably gets only one realistic shot at a lawsuit for hormones, SRS, etc. When she loses that suit, if she refiles the same or substantially similar suits, they will in all probability be summarily dismissed by the federal court without requiring an answer by the prison or federal government. I don’t know if Manning can pay filing fees up front, but if not, she will quickly lose the right to file without paying if she persists.
The reason I’m inclined to take Manning at her word rather than think this is some sort of ploy is that the federal Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth have the reputation of being a very tough place to do time. By identifying as female, Manning has probably made herself the target for attacks by other inmates.
If Manning is a transsexual this isn’t a matter of choice.
Well, OK - then the choice is to lie for 30 years about what Manning is, likely miserable the whole time (and untransitioned transsexuals have appalling rates of suicide) while being, as you note, small and effeminate and “attractive” to exactly the wrong sort of brute, or say something and maybe get either segregated inceration with the other vulnerable prisoners (homosexuals, elderly, disabled - those most likely to be victims and least likely to be able to victimize others) or, if REALLY lucky, transition and wind up in a female prison where Manning is far less likely to be physically victimized.
My understanding is that in US prisons transsexuals are sorted by their genitals, so if pre-bottom surgery a transwoman goes to a male prison and post-surgery to a female prison, but transition surgery is not done one prisoners in this country so really, unless things have changed since I last heard anything about this, the best Manning could hope for is segregation with the other “special” prisoners. Nonetheless, that might be a safer choice than being small and effeminate in the general population of a max security prison.
So do transitioned ones, and SRS does not appear to change the rate. So Manning and his supporters are going to have an uphill battle trying to sell this as medically necessary.
Regards,
Shodan
Incarcerated people are legally prevented from committing suicide, so we don’t officially need to worry about Manning committing suicide for lack of SRS. Nice how that all works out, isn’t it?
Thing is, people are incarcerated because they broke the law. Outlawing suicide in prisoners isn’t going to stop it.
There was a certain amount of kvetching about how badly Manning was being treated because he was on suicide watch, back before he was convicted. And IIRC that was before he came out as transgender.
Regards,
Shodan
That is not true, and it has been debunked over and over, so quit repeating it. That combined with your insistence on misgendering a trans person casts suspicion on your motives for repeating that fallacy.
Cite.
Cite.
Any cites you would like to share about suicide rates for post-SRS transsexuals?
Regards,
Shodan
How embarrassingly pathetic even for Shodan.
I’m not surprised that post-SRS transsexuals have higher rates of suicidal behavior than the general population. What I’d like to know is how do post-SRS rates stack up against pre-SRS rates.
And I notice you didn’t quote very much of your first article either.
For all we know, they could be lost to followup because they are finally happy and ready to move on as a man or woman rather than a transsexual.
Rather paints a different picture if you read more than the first paragraph.
How predictably silly.
Already answered. There is no evidence of any change in suicide rates, and post-op transsexuals are at higher risk of suicide than the general public - SRS does not cure the tendency IOW.
Or perhaps they committed suicide. Or perhaps you are trying to hand-wave.
Only if you consider unsupported opinion to be superior to scientific study.
I’ll ask you the same thing - do you have cites to valid studies that show that SRS leads to significant reductions in suicide for transsexuals? This is GQ, after all.
Regards,
Shodan
Manning presumably had as much choice in picking her gender as she had in picking her height.
Not answered. You are again comparing post-op SRS against the general public, not pre-op SRS.
It’s no more of a handwave than the researcher who assumed they dropped out because of dissatisfaction is my point.
It’s clear you’re not actually paying attention anyway, so I don’t know why I’m wasting my time.
I think the best probable solution for Manning is that she’ll be placed in segregation. Though if she wants to commit suicide, requesting being put in the general population would be a good way for her to get dead.
Any study that loses track of half or more of study participants isn’t valid in my eyes. Throw those out and the literature is pitifully small. Bottom line, not enough valid research has been done to answer the question.
The fact that post-SRS transsexuals have a higher rate of psychiatric problems is irrelevant to the question of whether or not SRS helps transsexuals. In that case the relevant question is comparing pre- and post-psychiatric rates and severity.
No, that has been answered.
See how that’s an answer? There is no conclusive evidence that sex change surgery improves the lives of transsexuals. That means that there is no conclusive evidence that it reduces suicide attempts. Because a reduction in suicide rates would be an improvement in the lives of post-op transsexuals, and there is no conclusive evidence that this occurs.
And I read Una’s post the first time she wrote it. If you had done so, you would note that there is no mention of any studies that showed that SRS brought about a reduction in suicides among post-op transsexuals.
And Una also says quite clearly -
and goes on to say
and the post is based pretty much entirely on negative evidence, and anecdote from a heavily biased researcher.
IOW what I said is exactly correct, and you have produced zero evidence to refute it.
And therefore, I will repeat - do you have cites for valid studies that show that SRS reduces suicide in post-op transsexuals? Cites and valid studies - not hand-waving, not moving the goalposts - actual, cited facts.
This is GQ.
Regards,
Shodan
In that case, you will agree that there is no conclusive evidence that SRS reduces the suicide rate among post-op transsexuals.
Regards,
Shodan
There is no way to say it does or doesn’t. Anecdotally there are a lot of claims it benefits such people but as we all know the plural anecdote does not automatically mean data.
You say there is no conclusive evidence it benefits transsexuals
I say there is no conclusive evidence it doesn’t benefit them.
Half empty vs. half full, but how you state the situation can say a lot about your own bias in the matter.
The overwhelming majority of transsexuals I have personally communicated with who have undergone SRS tell me it was the best thing for them and their lives did seem to improve markedly afterwards despite some very real hardships. However, “transsexuals I have personally communicated with” is in no way a scientific sampling. My personal experiences incline me to think it is beneficial, but that is not a scientific conclusion.
I thought you were aware (not from personal experience, of course) of the differences in a civilian and a military prison.