MovieChat Forums > The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Discussion > Buffalo Bill's pathology

Buffalo Bill's pathology

posted 7 years ago by LetThemEatCake (2717)
11 replies | jump to latest

Why would they deny him a sex change? And who would want a sex change without being genuinely transexual?

[–] Martoto (5049) 7 years ago

Because he has personality disorder/mental illness. And, someone with personality disorder/mental illness might want a sex change without genuinely being trans-sexual.

[–] LetThemEatCake (2717) 7 years ago

I feel like that is impossible, I have OCD and I am trans, I just live like a gay person, but I don't think that's possible. Of course, maybe the author of the book just didn't do enough research.

[–] Martoto (5049) 7 years ago

Buffallo Bill wasn't OCD (which is a behavioural condition, not a personality disorder). And he wasn't gay either. Being gay and being transsexual are not the same thing anyway.

He clearly had female authority figure issues which manifested in adopting a female persona in order to possess it, control it and re-enact on others the cruelty he feels done to him by a female authority figure, but also to degrade the female figure.

If it was a safe assumption as you are attempting to make out, that anyone requesting a sex change must genuinely need it or benefit from it then surgeons would never need to bother with evaluating patients or rejecting them. But they do.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Oh it's you! Wasn't expecting to find you here.

[–] LetThemEatCake (2717) 7 years ago

and who are you?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

You and I were talking about the 2017 adaptation of 'It' a few weeks back.

[–] LetThemEatCake (2717) 7 years ago

Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about the old imdb board.

[–] BugisStreetAnnie (1296) 7 years ago

What I thought he was, looking back on it, is what they call a crossdreamer or autogynephile transsexual, where he gets sexually aroused at the thought of himself as a woman... fetishizing female body parts and drag. Some transsexuals are like that. They identify as heterosexual males until they transition.

[–] LetThemEatCake (2717) 7 years ago

strange terms, a trans women that is attracted to men is not homosexual in my opinion but heterosexual

[–] TheLovelyAnomaly (619) 7 years ago

Hannibal Lector addresses this during the film. He explains that Buffalo Bill isn't a true transsexual, that his disgust for his own sex is a result of years of systematic abuse. In other words, Buffalo Bill was *conditioned* to hate his sex.

[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

Uh, BB is batshit crazy and delusional, completely out of touch with reality. He thinks that making a "woman suit" out of human skin will make him into a woman, which would definitely put him out of the running for a medical transition - or would have back then. They a lot of screening to be sure people were in touch with the realities of the process, and I'd be surprised if BB was in touch with the realities of breakfast.

So any transition program that turned down Jamie Gumb had a good screening program! And BTW the fact that Gumb was a uniquely crazy person negated any need to do any research about regular people with gender dysphoria, all he could do was put as much distance between them and BB as possible.