Editing Gender-affirming surgery (section)

== Terminology ==
Gender-affirming surgery is known by many other names, including ''gender-affirmation surgery'', ''sex reassignment surgery'', ''gender reassignment surgery'', and ''gender confirmation surgery''.<ref name="ASPS-2017">{{Cite web |title=Gender Confirmation Surgeries |url=https://www.plasticsurgery.org/reconstructive-procedures/gender-confirmation-surgeries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612071848/https://www.plasticsurgery.org/reconstructive-procedures/gender-confirmation-surgeries |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=7 August 2017 | work = American Society of Plastic Surgeons}}</ref> It is also sometimes called a ''sex change'',<ref name="Harrington-2016">{{Cite book | vauthors = Harrington L |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBMHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT287 |title=Traversing Gender: Understanding Transgender Realities |date=1 May 2016 |publisher=Mystic Productions Press |isbn=978-1-942733-83-6 |page=287 |oclc=947837700 |access-date=15 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316143005/https://books.google.com/books?id=PBMHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT287 |archive-date=16 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> though this term is usually considered offensive.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of ''sex change'' |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sex+change |access-date=25 September 2022 | work = Merriam-Webster, Incorporated |language=en}}</ref> ''Top surgery'' and ''bottom surgery'' refer to surgeries on the chest and genitals respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Glossary of Transgender Terms |url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/glossary-of-terms-1 |access-date=17 May 2022 | work = Johns Hopkins Medicine |language=en}}</ref>

Some transgender people who want medical assistance to [[transitioning (transgender)|transition]] from one sex to another identify as "[[transsexual]]".<ref name="Bevan">{{Cite book | vauthors = Bevan TE |title=The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism |year=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-4408-3127-0}}, page 42: "The term transsexual was introduced by Cauldwell (1949) and popularized by Harry Benjamin (1966) [...]. The term transgender was coined by John Oliven (1965) and popularized by various transgender people who pioneered the concept and practice of transgenderism. It is sometimes said that Virginia Prince (1976) popularized the term, but history shows that many transgender people advocated the use of this term much more than Prince."</ref><ref name="Polly">{{cite journal | vauthors = Polly R, Nicole J | title = Understanding the transsexual patient: culturally sensitive care in emergency nursing practice | journal = Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal | volume = 33 | issue = 1 | pages = 55–64 | date = January 2011 | pmid = 21317698 | doi = 10.1097/TME.0b013e3182080ef4 | s2cid = 2481961 }}</ref>

[[Trans women]] and others [[assigned male at birth]] may undergo one or more feminizing procedures: genital surgeries such as [[penectomy]] (removal of the penis), [[orchiectomy]] (removal of the testes), [[vaginoplasty]] (construction of a vagina), [[vulvoplasty]] (construction of a vulva); as well as [[breast augmentation]], [[tracheal shave]] (reduction of the [[Adam's apple]]), [[facial feminization surgery]], and [[voice feminization surgery]] among others.

[[Trans men]] and others [[assigned female at birth]] may undergo one or more masculinizing procedures; such as [[chest reconstruction]], [[breast reduction]], [[hysterectomy]] (removal of the uterus), [[oophorectomy]] (removal of the ovaries). A penis can be constructed through [[metoidioplasty]] or [[phalloplasty]], and a [[scrotum]] through [[scrotoplasty]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gender-Affirming Surgery: Masculinizing Options |url=https://www.ohsu.edu/transgender-health/gender-affirming-surgery-masculinizing-options |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425222921/https://www.ohsu.edu/transgender-health/gender-affirming-surgery-masculinizing-options |archive-date=25 April 2022 |access-date=8 June 2021 | work = Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) }}</ref>

As knowledge of [[non-binary gender]]s expands in the medical community, more surgeons are willing to tailor operations to individual needs. Bigenital operations allow individuals to construct a penis or vagina and retain their original organs. Gender nullification is the removal of all external genitalia except the urethral opening, typically pursued by people assigned male at birth.<ref name="Baum_2022">{{Cite web | vauthors = Baum SE |date=2022-11-14 |title=Trans People Are Seeking Nonbinary Bottom Surgeries |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/trans-people-are-seeking-nonbinary-bottom-surgeries/ |access-date=2023-09-29 | work = Vice |language=en}}</ref>{{Medical source needed|date=October 2023}} 

''Gender-affirming surgery'' can also refer to operations pursued by [[cisgender]] people, such as [[mammaplasty]], [[penile implant]], or testicular implants following [[orchiectomy]].<ref name="Schall_2023">{{cite journal | vauthors = Schall TE, Moses JD | title = Gender-Affirming Care for Cisgender People | journal = The Hastings Center Report | volume = 53 | issue = 3 | pages = 15–24 | date = May 2023 | pmid = 37285414 | doi = 10.1002/hast.1486 | s2cid = 259110063 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Gender-affirming surgery is often sensationalized and misrepresented by [[Anti-gender movement|anti-trans]] activists through terms such as ''genital-mutilation surgery''.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = McClain LC |title="Do Not Ever Refer to My Lord Jesus Christ with Pronouns": Considering Controversies over Religiously Motivated Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-and-religion/article/do-not-ever-refer-to-my-lord-jesus-christ-with-pronouns-considering-controversies-over-religiously-motivated-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-gender-identity/01807DD25D8E081017C6ED5D8EF0D681|journal=Journal of Law and Religion|date=27 January 2023|issn=0748-0814|pages=1–9|volume=38|issue=1|doi=10.1017/jlr.2023.1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Burton JS, Pfeifauf K, Skolnick GB, Sacks JM, Snyder-Warwick AK | title = Determinants of Public Opinion Toward Gender-Affirming Surgery in the United States | journal = Transgender Health | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages = 241–253 | date = June 2024 | pmid = 39109263 | pmc = 11299100 | doi = 10.1089/trgh.2022.0119 | pmc-embargo-date = June 17, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Birenbaum G |access-date=2024-08-15|title=Rand Paul tried to derail Rachel Levine's historic confirmation hearing with transphobic misinformation|url=https://www.vox.com/2021/2/25/22301138/rand-paul-transphobic-confirmation-hearing-dr-rachel-levine|date=25 February 2021| work = Vox }}</ref>