How on earth do people actually go through with gender re-alignment surgery, like you can’t have a baby?

There are many ways for people to feel affirmed in their gender. Gender affirmation surgery is just one pathway and refers to a wide range of care that supports folks in feeling and being authentically themselves. For people who do want to become parents, even after gender affirming care, there are many different ways that can take place, biologically or otherwise.

There are a number of books that have more information on the history of gender affirming surgery, including “A History of Transgender Medicine: From Margins to Mainstream” (bit.ly/bcl-history-trans-healthcare) and “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities” (bit.ly/bcl-trans-selves).

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.