Transgender Identity

* I found it most interesting to be reading an article about the difficulty many transgender folks face when they opt to alter their appearances based on their personal convictions of what is right for them (“Era of the Gender Crosser,” Feb. 27). Contrast the opposition they must have often faced with the many ads exhorting women (and men) to mutilate their bodies through plastic surgery that appear in your paper. I know the transgender issue is larger than changing one’s physicality, but why does it seem so ironic that we can’t seem to see beyond our contextual view of a generic model of acceptable looks?

LYNN BENNETT

Los Angeles