Want Sex Change Operation? Go Brazilian...

Sex is a very important issue in Brazil, and this goes beyond those sexy Brazilian butts to the Copacabana beach and the boobs of the Rio carnival.

Brazil's public health care system will pay the cost of sex-change operations, after a federal court stated the procedure was a constitutional right. The surgery will first have to receive the approval of a panel of doctors, after psychological and medical tests on the patient are done, as announced by the Health Ministry.

These tests are necessary as some transsexuals can only suffer a temporary nervous breakdown, not a real crisis of gender identity.

The Regional Federal Court of Porto Alegre supported the Public Ministry's argument that sexual reassignment surgery was a constitutional right, along with the other human rights, like dignity, equality, privacy and health care.

The government in the lawsuit maintained it lacked the money for paying the sex-change surgeries, but it would not appeal the court ruling. "The ruling will prevent self mutilation by people with sexual identity problems," said the court's chief judge Rober Raupp Rios. The cost of sex-change operations in Porto Alegre could be of about $ 1,000, and about one Brazilian in 10,000 could be willing to operate. During 2000-2007, 250 sex-change operations have been carried in Brazil.

Still, there are warning signals about sex change operations. Due to the surgery, some patients have no sex life anymore. Medical research on transsexualism lacks scientific evidence of satisfactory outcomes for patients and there are many stories of post-operative second thoughts and regrets.

Moreover, the lack of willingness from the society to accept transsexual people can make the surgery rather disappointing. Of course, there are also stories of overwhelming satisfaction, not just of disappointment and regret, but the problem is the lack of any scientific research to assess the overall level of satisfaction following such surgery.

Some local health authorities do not fund sex change operations due to the lack of evidence about the surgical efficacy and psychological benefits of the procedure.