Through his ethnographic research, Eric Plemons observes how many transgender women feel as though "to be a woman ... was to be recognized and treated as a woman" (Plemons 2017, 2). FFS, along with other cosmetic surgeries aimed at 'feminizing' or 'masculinizing' the body, promotes the positive social recognition that transitioning individuals seek. Recognition as the gender an individual identifies with promotes secure and confident self-identification, and eliminates the discomfort resulting from mis-identification in social situations. Security with one's identity promotes better mental health as well, which is often of great concern among transgender men and women. Emily Newfield's study has found a significant decrease in the quality of life among individuals who identify as transgender men or women when compared to the general US population. Newfield attributes this discrepancy between populations to the overall lower mental well-being among the transgender male and female population (Newfiels 2006).