Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina

"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 undergo a sex change operation, which is performed by Dr. Biber, of the Trinidad Medical Center. Meanwhile, Kyle is trying out for the all-state basketball team. Kyle's performance against his tall and black competitors is unimpressive, and the coach and Cartman join to instruct him that "Jews can't play basketball." This depresses Kyle, and when he, Stan, Cartman and Kenny are walking home, the now-Ms. Garrison tells the boys of her surgery.

Kyle asks his parents what a sex change is, and as she explains the term, his mother, Sheila Broflovski, insists on the legitimacy of cosmetic surgery as an important aid for people whose physical appearance contrasts with their self-image. However, in applauding Mr. Garrison's courage, she inadvertently implies that Kyle's own problems can be solved in a similar manner. Stan accompanies Kyle to Trinidad to see about the situation, and Dr. Biber suggests that Kyle should undergo a "negroplasty" to make him black and taller. When Kyle returns home, his parents are outraged by the suggestion. His dad, Gerald Broflovski, travels to the Institute in order to confront Dr. Biber. However, Dr. Biber, spotting Gerald's dolphin shirt, appeals to his affinity for dolphins and convinces him to undergo "dolphinoplasty", surgically altering his appearance to resemble that of a dolphin.

As he has now been persuaded to endorse cosmetic surgery, Gerald Broflovski allows his son to undergo the negroplasty. Meanwhile, Ms. Garrison is puzzled by the absence of her period, turns to believe she is pregnant, and cheerfully decides to have an abortion. However, despite having changed her sex, she does not have ovaries and a uterus, and thus can neither menstruate, become pregnant, nor have an abortion. She requests Dr. Biber to change her sex back, but learns that the operation is irreversible, as her former testicles have been transplanted in Kyle's knees to make him taller, and her scrotum is now Mr. Broflovski'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 Mrs. 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. Dr. Biber agrees to reverse the surgery he performed on Kyle and his father, and they are shown returned to normal in later episodes.

References to pop culture

• After becoming a woman, Mrs. Garrison appears in a video from the Girls Gone Wild pornography franchise.
• When agreeing to perform surgery on Kyle, Dr. Biber mentions the procedure "caucasiaplasty" as the reverse of a "negroplasty". He claims that pop music artist Michael Jackson has had this surgery performed on him, in reference to the fact that the color of Michael Jackson's skin has gradually become lighter through his career. Michael Jackson himself attributes the changes in his skin tone to suffering from the condition vitiligo.
• After the sex change operation, Mrs. Garrison uses the term "Girl Power" as a personal catchphrase, empowering the pride of being a woman.
• At one point during the basketball game, Kyle's dad tells Mrs. Garrison to "Grab Kyle!". She responds "Which one is he?". This parodies the common stereotype that all black people look alike, an instance of the sociological ingroup/outgroup phenomenon.
• In the basketball game a sign with the words "Gotta love it" and the letter W, Referencing McDonalds' present slogan "I'm lovin' it", The "W" appears again in the episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce"

Trivia

• Dr. Biber is a reference to Stanley Biber, a pioneer of sex reassignment surgery, who in 1954 was working at the United Mine Workers clinic in Trinidad, Colorado.
• This is the third time that there was an instance of nudity in a Viacom cartoon. The second was when Mrs. Choksondik showed her nipples briefly, and the first was in Naked Beach Frenzy, a Ren & Stimpy episode from 2003 that was originally to be aired on SpikeTV but has not aired on any station.
• According to the DVD commentary on this episode, Trey Parker said he almost "pulled a Dave Chappelle", because he was disappointed with this episode and after having such a stressful year in 2004 while making 14 episodes of South Park and working on Team America: World Police, wanted to leave South Park. He was apparently convinced to stay when they came up with the idea that Gerald Broflovski was half lawyer and half dolphin making him a "lawfin".
• Gerald Broflovski's bruised eyes seems to be a joke that Dr. Biber has brutally knocked out Gerald to perform the surgery.
• During the talk of Gerald's "dolphinoplasty", the surgeon says it would be possible to move his esophagus to the top of his head. He should've talked about doing that with the trachea instead, since a dolphin's blowhole is used for breathing.