There have been a number of views expressed on the vexed question of giving legal recognition to transsexuals (male-female) as being female. I am perplexed by this issue and wish to share my concerns.

While society must understand the plight of this group of people, it does not necessarily mean that recognising them legally as female would alleviate their situation. There are a number of medical people who have come out stating that scans of the transsexuals brains reveal that they have female brains and this causes them to feel like a female trapped in a male body. But I do not find this convincing.

From what I understand, the study of the workings of the brain is a complex one and we still have a lot more to learn about it. Given this, how can we conclude with any degree of certainty based on CT scans that the transsexual's brain is alike to the female's brain in structure and in its functioning? Apart from this, there is also the even more difficult area trying to fathom what transsexuals mean when they say "I am a woman". Which aspect of a woman and her life do they feel part of? Is it only psychological or does it extend to the social, political and economic spheres?

If it means having feminine attributes and if this is because of some command from the brain does this make a person become a female? This could be a very small part of being a female and the whole person essentially being male. It is for this reason I do not believe that recognising them legally as female will put an end to their woes. To illustrate this point let us say a transsexual now described as a female on the identity card registers herself as a female for a medical check-up and during this the doctor asks her "When did you have your last period?"

Either she would lie in reply or be embarrassed. There is no escaping her situation even if her identity card says she is a female. Still on the issue of medical health (when one has to be gender sensitive in giving prescriptions) does the doctor see her as being male or female when writing out the dosage for prescriptions or when assessing symptoms of a disease? In these situations do doctors go by the description on the identity card or by the body in front of them?

Besides these medical considerations, there are ethical and legal ones to take into account. Now, if a transsexual legally recognised as a female gets engaged to a man but omits to disclose her history; then the man comes to find out the true situation and breaks off just before the marriage, can the transsexual now sue him for breach of promise to marry?

She maybe legally right to do so but would it not be unethical for her not to have made full disclosure? No matter what, a transsexual is never going to escape from the male she is. Perhaps the best is not to contort the physical reality but to try and understand what this feeling of being a woman means and how it can be honestly expressed.