My name is Muriel Vernon and I am a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I am currently looking for research participants for my dissertation fieldwork during the year of 2010, which I will be conducting at the Greenbaum Surgery Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and at Mount St. Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado. My dissertation research focuses on transsexual or transgender women who will be undergoing sex reassignment surgery (SRS/ vaginoplasty) next year under the care of Marci Bowers/Toby Meltzer, and I will be spending six months in each location. I am basically interested in talking to patients about their personal experiences of living with Gender Identity Disorder (GID), their expectations/ hopes/meanings invested in the surgery, what patients feel the surgery contributes to their identities, what patients feel SRS will contribute to the dissolution or lessening of GID or Gender Dysphoria, and what patients think SRS will contribute to changing negative societal attitudes toward transsexual/transgender individuals. The risks for the participants in the study are minimal and all information will be handled confidentially.
If you are going to Trinidad, Colorado between January and July 2010, or of you are going to Scottsdale, Arizona between July and December 2010, and if you are interested in participating in this study, please contact me at murielv1@hotmail.com or call me at 818-261-2831 for more information about the study. You may also contact my advisor Dr. Linda Garro at lgarro@anthro.ucla.edu. Thank you for your consideration.