Taiwan requires men aged 19-37 to enlist in military service, which is why the National Conscription Agency asked a 27-year-old identified only as “Su” to come in for the pre-requisite medical exam. The only problem? Su had just had a sex-change operation and been issued a female ID card two months prior. Nevertheless, the military nurses asked her to strip down beside her fellow conscripts.
Su refused to do strip in public and asked for a private exam. But even after Su’s medical exam, the military doctors noted that her sex was “ambiguous,” suggested a second-round check-up, and told her they could not guarantee her an exemption.
The Taiwanese military exempts transgender citizens from service, but even the NCA said that their entry-level assistants had made “some mistakes” handling Su because similar cases rarely occur in the country.
Lamar
Women should have conscription too in any countries hat feel the need for it. Are men simply disposable?
Some Dyke
@Lamar–Patriarchy hurts men too! It’s not that men are seen as disposable, but that they’re seen as stronger/braver/tougher than women who, in the mind of sexist assholes, are not fit to serve their country.
TampaZeke
@Some Dyke: Sorry Some Dyke, but they ARE seen as more disposable too. But you’re right, patriarchy does screw men too.
Lamar
@Some Dyke: But that’s precisely the irony, women say they should be treated in the same way as men legally etc. (and rightfully so), so if they are to be equal then why shouldn’t they have to do conscription too? I think conscription anyway is just wrong for both men and women but if you must have it then you can’t just force men to do it, lots of men are weak too but they are still forced to do conscription so it’s sexism against men, lots of women are butch and strong but still not forced to do it.
whatever
@Lamar: Yes, women, gays, trangenders should all the right to be cannon fodder!
Evan
Yes, men are seen as disposable. Yes, this is bad for everyone. No, it’s not appropriate to classify transgender women with cisgender men; if you’re going to conscript womsn (and you should) then you should conscript all women.
As long as it’s only trans women who have to worry about it, it’s not any more fair for the guys, and it’s hell on the trans women who have to deal with a system that’s not designed for them (witness the request to strip down in front of a room full of men).