Serbia Becomes A Center For Sex-Change Surgery

Of late, Serbia has emerged to be the favorite destination of trans-gender people hoping for sex reassignment surgeries. More and more people are heading for Serbia, be it from the neighboring European countries like Austria, Greece, Romania, Hungary, or France, or from distant countries like Iran, Singapore and even the United States.

According to the statistics provided by the Belgrade Center for Genital Reconstructive Surgery, nearly 100 such sex change operations took place in Serbia in the last year alone.

But what makes Serbia the hot-bed for such operations? The low cost of surgery may be one of the reasons. While in the United Kingdoms, the cost of a trans-gender surgery comes to around $15,000; its price in the United States may be as high as $50,000. Needless, to say, people willing to undergo operative procedure to change their sex, make a bee-line for Serbia where the cost of such a procedure is less than $10,000.

Moreover, unlike other countries where the whole procedure of sex change is undertaken in multiple settings, in Serbia, the entire procedure is completed in one single operation lasting around six hours. This considerably reduces the sufferings of the patient.

Another important reason why people wanting a gender reassignment surgery prefer Serbia is that such a surgery is often shunned by the people in other countries. The conservative attitude of the society makes homosexuality and trans-sexuality taboo words. People in such countries fear to come out in open and the surgeons performing such operations are looked down upon. However, conditions in Serbia have changed rapidly. Although it was once an ultra-conservative, patriarchal country under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia has taken rapid strides in liberalism in recent years.

The society is far more tolerant and homosexuality is not frowned upon. In fact, the government has allowed the holding of gay pride parade this year, even though it was cancelled last year because of violent disruption by protestors. One can guess the extent of liberalism from the fact that sex change operations are now offered to Serbians at a subsidized rate, whereas trans-sexuality was so taboo in old Yugoslavia that it is not even mentioned in medical textbooks.

Compare the situation with United States where even now, there are no more than five surgeons who regularly perform sex reassignment surgeries. According to Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecologist from San Francisco and an expert in such surgeries, there could be three important factors behind the dearth of surgeons in this field:

• social conservatism;

• lack of surgical skills;

• and fear of potentially hazardous complications.

In Serbia, the whole process of rampant sex change surgeries started with Dr. Sava Perovic, who performed the first such surgery in Serbia on a man suffering from gender identity crisis. That was around twenty years back. Following the successful operation, many more men flocked to Dr. Perovic for such operations.

Soon, many other surgeons followed suit and now there are four specialized centers for sex change surgeries in this small country.

All this talk about sex change surgeries in trans-gender people brings us to a very pertinent question- what is trans-sexuality. Trans-sexuality has been defined as a condition wherein the people of one sex feel that they actually belong to the opposite gender and their body is not correct. Transgender people feel their gender identity is different from the one they were assigned at birth.

According to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAAD), trans-gender people are uncomfortable in their skin since their childhood. This condition is all the more common in intersex children, i.e. children born with both male and female sex organs. Doctors often undertake surgeries in such children and assign them a particular sex. But it may not be the right sex for the child. As the child grows up, he may feel entrapped in the wrong body and long for a sex change operation. Because of the close mind of the society, such people find it extremely difficult to come out in the open and reveal their true gender identity. And when they do so, they are often made a subject of discrimination and ridicule.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of trans-genders in a society. However, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C., about 0.0025% to 1% of the entire U.S. population comprises of trans-gender people.

According to Professor Lynn Carr from Seaton Hall University, New Jersey, both experts and the common man confuse between sex, gender and sexuality. He says that being a male or a female is a person’s sex, whether he is masculine, feminine or androgynous in his behavior represents his sexuality, whereas sexuality is erotic in nature. A person can be homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, or celibate according to his personal choice.

Many a times, females feel restricted by the narrow gender roles and exhibit gender nonconformity in their childhood. However, they reconcile by the time they grow up. However, in case of trans-sexuality, there is a strong and persistent desire to be of the other sex, and there are many psychological problems arising out of this condition. Such people often behave and dress like the other sex, and truly believe themselves to be belonging to the other sex.

Whether to come out is a purely personal decision taken by such people when they feel they have developed the emotional and psychological stamina to deal with the reaction of their immediate family members, their near and dear ones, and the society at large. It is only when they have gauged their support system that they gather the courage to face the world. However, if the support system is in place, and they come out in the open, trans-gender people often head for sex change surgeries.

According to experts, male to female (MTF) sex change operations are more common and more successful than the female to male operations (FTM). A study published in the September 2007 issue of the journal BJU International found that there are certain complications of MTF gender change surgery. They include vaginal hair growth (29%), problems in urination (27%), vaginal prolapse (6%), and vaginal tissue death (3%). However, these problems can be corrected by secondary surgery and most of the people undertaking sex change operations are happy with the results.