Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina

"Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is episode 901 of South Park, which first aired on March 9, 2005.

Plot summary
Mr. Garrison believes that he is a woman on the inside, and decides to get a sex change, from Dr. Biber, of the Trinidad Medical Institute. While this is occurring, Kyle is trying out for the all-state basketball team. However, both the coach and Cartman say, "Jews can't play basketball."(He was trying out against all tall black boys.) Saddened by this, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny are walking home, when the now-Mrs. Garrison tells the boys she got a sex change.

Kyle asks his parents what a sex change is, and Kyle's mom makes it worse by implying that he should get a change to make him feel like he does on the inside. Stan accompanies Kyle to Trinidad to see about the situation. Dr. Biber believes that Kyle should get a "negroplasty" to make him blacker and taller. When Kyle returns, his parents are angry, and his dad goes to the Institute to fix the problem, but instead comes back for his wife to find out that he is a dolphin, having undergone a "dolphinoplasty."

Kyle gets the surgery, and the gang is confused. Mrs. Garrison, knowing that her period isn't happening, believes she is pregnant, and decides to have an abortion. However, even with the sex change, she can't have an abortion or become pregnant. Garrison tries to have the process reversed, but it would seem that her testes are in Kyle's knees to make him taller, and her scrotum is Mr. Brovlofski's dorsal fin.

At the all-state basketball game, Garrison, Dr. Biber, and the other three boys are trying to stop Kyle from playing basketball, as any jumping could cause Garrison's testicles to explode. Unfortunately, in a dramatic climax, Kyle leaps into the air, causing his new "kneecaps" to explode as he lands. Faced with the loss of her testicles, Mrs. Garrison decides to accept her new gender. Kyle & his dad are shown returned to normal in later episodes.

Themes
One theme explored in this episode is that the cosmetic changes Dr. Biber makes on the three characters are only "skin deep". Their inherent traits are still there.

- Gerald Broflovski isn't really a dolphin.

- Kyle Broflovski still can't play basketball on the allstar team.

- Mrs. Garrison can't get pregnant and have an abortion like most women.

Another theme is illustrated by Gerald Broflovski, who spends much of the episode expecting the world to conform to his (somewhat unreasonable) needs now that he has undergone a "dolphinoplasty"; and threatening legal action when the community doesn't conform.

Mr/Ms Garrison's statement that gender re-assignment is 'perfectly natural' is clearly intended to be contradicted by the episodes introduction, where the actual surgery is depicted by mingling extremely graphic live footage of a gender reassignment with the shows normal animation.

Transphobia
As with many episodes of South Park, the episode can been seen from more than one point of view (and thus, with more than one message).

Mrs. Garrison's conclusion half way through the episode (that she is not really a woman because she does not have the reproductive systems that most women have) has been taken by some in the transgendered community as a sign that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are inherently transphobic.

The opposite conclusion could also be drawn as the boys (and most other characters) immediately treat Mrs. Garrison as she wishes to be treated (as a woman). Additionally, Mrs. Garrison decides at the end of the episode to continue presenting herself as a woman.

Trivia

 * As of October 14, 2006 Garrison is still a woman.
 * Live action highlights can be seen during Mr. Garrison's sex change operation. These highlights are actually that of an animal being neutered.
 * After the sex change, Garrison rechristens herself Mrs. Garrison, despite the fact that "Mrs." is a married woman's title, and she is not married.
 * Mrs. Garrison's "breasts" are shown uncensored, much like Ms. Choksondik's nipples, which were shown in episode 59.

Goofs

 * Mr. Garrison would most likely be unconscious during an actual sex change operation. In addition, most surgeons would not allow him to get such an operation unless he had been living as a woman and taking hormones for more than two years.
 * When Kyle is supposed to enter the basketball game, the stadium host says "Number 8, Kyle B." Actually, Kyle's jersey says "4". This was fixed in subsequent reruns of the episode.
 * Also on the topic of Kyle's jersey, when he is about to go to the all-star game his jersey abruptly changes to an all-star one.
 * During Dr. Biber's description of a dolphinoplasty, he mistakenly tells Gerald that part of the procedure would involve moving the opening of the esophagus to the top of a head. Since he is obviously talking about creating a blowhole, he should have said trachea.