By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 9/16/2024 – As children, we can easily become frustrated, but we are taught to deal with that frustration. It may begin with questions answered with a simple “because” or its longer, a no-less-helpful “because I said so.” Over time we are taught to navigate our responses in stressful situations in hopes of avoiding violent or belligerent reactions.
As adults, we put that training to good use on almost a daily basis as we make our way through life, such as for asking for or being denied a raise, a job, or even a relationship. We do it so often in life that, for most of us, it goes without notice or comment.
For the transgender community, an additional layer of frustration is prevalent as they deal with physicians, surgeons and medical professionals on their journey to medical transition. These medical professionals are known as the “gate keepers” who feel an inordinate duty to make sure the patient is fully aware of the gravity of their decision to alter their bodies with hormone replacement and/or surgical additions and subtractions.
And they do it with three simple words:
“Are you sure?”
We might all see a positive purpose for this exercise, at first glance. Doctors swear the Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm” to those who trust them for their medical care. Unfortunately, some medical professionals feel compelled to hammer their transgender patients by repeatedly asking them, “Are you sure?”
Married filmmakers Perette Barella and Opal Wright bring that maddening experience to life on screen in their short film, “Are You Sure?” which will screen as part of the 29 Queer Film Festival, Sept 20th-22nd in 29 Palms, California. In the film, which is directed by Barella and written by Wright, a patient tells her family physician that she thinks she might be transgender, setting off a blustery storm of questions and lectures by the doctor, as well as a general display of his hostility and ignorance of the process.
What follows is a story some people might perceive as medical bullying by everyone from the patient’s family doctor to the surgeon who will perform the surgical transition. Sure, that pesky Hippocratic Oath can be cited by every one of the medical “gate keepers.” But how much is enough?
In an exclusive interview earlier this week with The Hollywood Times, Wright, who plays the frustrated transgender patient Sara, said the story is very much hers and her wife’s as they pursued their own transitions.
Click below for our exclusive interview:
“The first scene with the doctor, where he becomes very flummoxed and says, ‘I can’t perform surgery on you’ was actually a bit of a toned-down version of what happened when I first went to a doctor to get a referral,” Wright said. “It became a lot of ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’ Do you know what’s involved with this? Every step of the way it was consent forms. It was 10-minute lectures on ‘here’s what is going to happen.’ It was ‘are you sure’ 10 times over at every turn.”
The only person, Wright said, who was particularly supportive – aside from Perette, of course – was the therapist, a point that becomes quite apparent as the film winds to its conclusion. Even after Wright’s patient has secured the necessary letters and forms for surgery, the surgeon (played by Perette) sends her to a psychiatrist for one final round of “Are you sure.”
By the end of the film’s 10-minute run, the audience has run the gauntlet of “gate keepers” and their penchant for repeatedly asking “Are you sure?” It is quite clear that this aspect of a transgender person’s journey from dysphoria to authenticity might just be the most difficult part.
Along with Wright and Perette, the film features Peter Brunnengräber, Linda Condry, David Henehan, and Julie Wolf. “Are You Sure?” will screen on Sunday, Sept. 22, at noon as part of the Gay All Over the Place shorts program. For more information about the film or the festival, visit the 29 Queer website.
