My instinct is to agree. Are there other cases where a slang/informal term for a major medical procedure has been taken on by doctors/researchers as their preferred term? It seems rare, at the very least, to me.
However I don't fault Jesse for using the term "top surgery" since he's trying hard not to appear biased against the trans community. I can see not wanting to die on a hill that's just about terminology (even if that terminology is dangerous).
"Are there other cases where a slang/informal term for a major medical procedure has been taken on by doctors/researchers as their preferred term? It seems rare, at the very least, to me."
Yes, it's very common among plastic surgeons to use terms like "face lift" and "tummy tuck" when speaking to the public.
Cosmetic surgery does seem like a special category though. And part of the problem with gender "affirming" surgery seems to be that it is sold by activists as having no more downside than a (successful) cosmetic procedure.
There's also getting your tubes tied, which is elective, but not cosmetic. I've heard of vasectomies being called The Snip, but only in really informal settings.
There's also a kind of in-group faux-hipness to "top surgery," I think; saying "top surgery" implies that you're so immersed in the scene that you don't need to explain "top of what?" I find it grating for that reason as well.
Does it help differentiate "done for breast cancer reasons" from "done for dysphoria reasons"?
If someone says they got a double mastectomy I would infer there was a non-dysphoria issue.
If they say "top surgery" I assume a dysphoria issue.
Regardless of whether you think these surgeries are justified for dysphoria, that seems like an at least somewhat useful distinction/connotation. (edit: fixed pluralization of surgery)
I don't know... rhinoplasty is rhinoplasty, whether it's done for aesthetic or physiological (breathing) reasons.
But even allowing for the use of different terms, "top surgery" is still a deliberately unclear euphemism chosen precisely because it hides what it does. So if you want a different term, drop the Latin and call it "breast removal" or the like. But not "top surgery" (and "bottom surgery is even worse), which sounds like how you'd explain it to a toddler.
I guess "Top surgery" though _also_ lets you combine both breast augmentation (for trans females) and breast removal (for trans males)
"Bottom surgery" then covers both vaginoplasty and phalloplasty.
I agree that the terms are partly chosen to sound less invasive/serious, but they do _also_ differentiate/categorize in a useful way.
And aren't even 'mastectomy' and 'rhinoplasty' chosen for how they sound?
'Rhinoplasty' sounds much more serious than 'nose job' so it doesn't sound like a vanity project.
'Mastectomy' I think sounds (or sounded - once everyone knows what it means the euphemism treadmill has done its work and they sound the same) less bad than 'breast removal'.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Rightly or wrongly, that’s the same connotation I get, even though I technically know that both are essentially the same thing (plus or minus the cosmetic adjustments one may make depending on whether you want the result to look like a male chest or a female chest with tiny boobs)
Well there is that angle; gaslighting the mentally infirm into willfully participating in their own sterilization. The Nazis would have found that brilliant.
Why has “top surgery” replaced “double mastectomy”? Purely for its euphemistic quality? If so, why are we going along with this?
I never say "top surgery"! Euphemisms have no place in medical care.
My instinct is to agree. Are there other cases where a slang/informal term for a major medical procedure has been taken on by doctors/researchers as their preferred term? It seems rare, at the very least, to me.
However I don't fault Jesse for using the term "top surgery" since he's trying hard not to appear biased against the trans community. I can see not wanting to die on a hill that's just about terminology (even if that terminology is dangerous).
"Are there other cases where a slang/informal term for a major medical procedure has been taken on by doctors/researchers as their preferred term? It seems rare, at the very least, to me."
Yes, it's very common among plastic surgeons to use terms like "face lift" and "tummy tuck" when speaking to the public.
Ah, thanks for those examples.
Cosmetic surgery does seem like a special category though. And part of the problem with gender "affirming" surgery seems to be that it is sold by activists as having no more downside than a (successful) cosmetic procedure.
There's also getting your tubes tied, which is elective, but not cosmetic. I've heard of vasectomies being called The Snip, but only in really informal settings.
There's also a kind of in-group faux-hipness to "top surgery," I think; saying "top surgery" implies that you're so immersed in the scene that you don't need to explain "top of what?" I find it grating for that reason as well.
Yes...and that makes it sound more acceptable.
Does it help differentiate "done for breast cancer reasons" from "done for dysphoria reasons"?
If someone says they got a double mastectomy I would infer there was a non-dysphoria issue.
If they say "top surgery" I assume a dysphoria issue.
Regardless of whether you think these surgeries are justified for dysphoria, that seems like an at least somewhat useful distinction/connotation. (edit: fixed pluralization of surgery)
I don't know... rhinoplasty is rhinoplasty, whether it's done for aesthetic or physiological (breathing) reasons.
But even allowing for the use of different terms, "top surgery" is still a deliberately unclear euphemism chosen precisely because it hides what it does. So if you want a different term, drop the Latin and call it "breast removal" or the like. But not "top surgery" (and "bottom surgery is even worse), which sounds like how you'd explain it to a toddler.
I guess "Top surgery" though _also_ lets you combine both breast augmentation (for trans females) and breast removal (for trans males)
"Bottom surgery" then covers both vaginoplasty and phalloplasty.
I agree that the terms are partly chosen to sound less invasive/serious, but they do _also_ differentiate/categorize in a useful way.
And aren't even 'mastectomy' and 'rhinoplasty' chosen for how they sound?
'Rhinoplasty' sounds much more serious than 'nose job' so it doesn't sound like a vanity project.
'Mastectomy' I think sounds (or sounded - once everyone knows what it means the euphemism treadmill has done its work and they sound the same) less bad than 'breast removal'.
Correction: mastectomy is based on Greek, not Latin.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Rightly or wrongly, that’s the same connotation I get, even though I technically know that both are essentially the same thing (plus or minus the cosmetic adjustments one may make depending on whether you want the result to look like a male chest or a female chest with tiny boobs)
“Top surgery” is covered by insurance.
"Mutilation" is a bit of a loaded term though. A nose job generally isn't called "facial mutilation".
Well there is that angle; gaslighting the mentally infirm into willfully participating in their own sterilization. The Nazis would have found that brilliant.