My incredibly unpopular view on trans people

[Good4Nothin]

More specifics would send me into Godwin territory. This is exactly what you wrote and I standby my post:

"The more we conform, the easier our life is likely to be. As long as we are natural conformists. The less we are willing or able to conform, the more challenging our life will be. But probably more rewarding also."

Yeah, who would disagree with that? It's easier if you happen to be a conformist. I didn't advocate being a conformist. I was explaining why Lisa said I am terribly unhappy, because I didn't conform to the female stereotype as a kid. And I didn't conform to it as an adult either. I lived how I wanted. I would have had more approval from society if I had been married with kids, probably. I didn't care.

 

[Digger]

Okay, so I have gotten a lot of flak from liberals and conservatives on my view on trans people. I have some friends on Facebook who are trans and we have had some nasty arguments before. To boil it down I think the whole trans thing is stupid but for the complete opposite reason that the traditionalists take issue with it.

Here is the deal...pretty much all gender normative stereotypes are culture specific. What does that mean? Well pretty much if you can think of a gender specific behavior that is masculine or feminine then you can find historical examples where the opposite gender has practiced it.

Men wore makeup in ancient Egypt. Men wore skirts in Scotland. Men shaved they legs in Ancient Rome. Men wore corsettes in Europe. And it goes on and on. Every example you can think of gender normative behavior is socially constructed.

So trans people who are fixated on "being" the opposite gender tend to be people who are fixated stereotypes of gender, not real differences in gender. Wearing a dress or using lipstick are cultural specific signifiers of gender, not anything that is innate or historically universal.

That isn't to say there are not significant neurological differences between men and women. There are, but there are probably more significant differences between how liberals and conservatives think than there are between how men and women think. Because of how we stereotype gender we tend to over accentuate the differences, but if I gave someone a stack of anonymous completed surveys that measured factors of personality, intelligence, aptitude, and values, there is very little chance they would be able to sort them into a pile for men and pile for women based on the results of each survey.

So in essence I see the whole trans thing as a social construct in response to the social construct of gender normative stereotypes.

Gendered behavior is a social construct. Gender itself is a social construct. That is not controversial. However we should not dismiss things simply for being social constructs.

Sex is not a social construct. It is a biological reality. We are a sexually dimorphic species, meaning there is significant differences between the bodies and behaviors of the two sexes in our species.

 

[Lisa]

Gendered behavior is a social construct. Gender itself is a social construct. That is not controversial. However, we should not dismiss things simply for being social constructs.

Sex is not a social construct. It is a biological reality. We are a sexually dimorphic species, meaning there is significant differences between the bodies and behaviors of the two sexes in our species.

What are your differences between sex and gender because according to your definition they seem to be the same.

 

[Digger]

What are your differences between sex and gender because according to your definition they seem to be the same.

I said gender is a social construct and sex is not.

 

[Lursa]

Yeah, who would disagree with that? It's easier if you happen to be a conformist. I didn't advocate being a conformist. I was explaining why Lisa said I am terribly unhappy, because I didn't conform to the female stereotype as a kid. And I didn't conform to it as an adult either. I lived how I wanted. I would have had more approval from society if I had been married with kids, probably. I didn't care.

You did not quote me correctly. The bottom half of that is not mine. ("The more we conform, the easier our life is likely to be. As long as we are natural conformists. The less we are willing or able to conform, the more challenging our life will be. But probably more rewarding also.")

I wrote this:

More specifics would send me into Godwin territory. This is exactly what you wrote and I standby my post:

I think everyone has their baseline there but I wouldnt encourage my child to be a conformist...I would encourage questioning and examining almost everything. Laws of course should be examined, but still 'conformed' to. Changed if possible.

 

[Lisa]

I said gender is a social construct and sex is not.

How can both gender and gender roles be a social construct?

What is the difference between gender and sex?

 

[Digger]

How can both gender and gender roles be a social construct?

What is the difference between gender and sex?

Gender is a social construct. Sex is not. You seem to be having some reading comprehension problems. Are you fluent in english?

 

[Lisa]

Gender is a social construct. Sex is not. You seem to be having some reading comprehension problems. Are you fluent in English?

How is gender a social construct? What is your definition of gender and how does it differ from gender roles?

 

[COTO]

So in essence I see the whole trans thing as a social construct in response to the social construct of gender normative stereotypes.

You're making it more complicated than it needs to be.

"I am A. I see B. For reasons I can't explain and/or aren't rational, I want to be like B. I will root my identity in this desire. I will establish these roots so firmly that even the perception of failing in this desire will harm me."

Set A = man, B = woman, you get transgenderism.

Set A = teenage girl, B = rail-thin supermodels, you get anorexia.

Set A = vindictive man, B = righteous man, you get Javert from "Les Miserables".

Set A = poor family, B = rich family, you get the movie "Parasite".


"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
- Jeremiah 17:9

 

[happy]

In order for a person to medically transition they must first be diagnosed by a medical professional with something called gender dysphoria. The American Psychiatric Association explains "people with gender dysphoria may often experience significant distress and/or problems functioning associated with this conflict between the way they feel and think of themselves referred to as experienced or expressed gender) and their physical or assigned gender."

Dysphoria can come in many forms such as social and physical. The reason people chose to medically transition is because their dysphoria makes them extremely uncomfortable body they are in. For us it would be like waking up in the body of the opposite gender. If a man woke up with breasts or a women woke up with a penis they would both feel extremely uncomfortable with that aspect of themselves. This is the truth a trans person feels every day, which is why the chose to take hormones, cut their hair etc. All of these changes help to ease their dysphoria and help them to feel better.

Yes, dysphoria is a mental illness. But this does not mean we should invalidate the best possible treatment for gender dysphoria - which is allowing people to transition. For depression we take Prozac, for gender dysphoria we take estrogen or testosterone. Gender dysphoria is not about feeling out of place socially. Although people with gender dysphoria may also experience issues feeling uncomfortable with their social status (for example a transgender woman may feel a desire to take on maternal roles) social dysphoria is not the end all be all.

Physical dysphoria is very real. Often when we see people de-transition (go back to their original gender) because they were never trans in the first place and their transition actually gave them gender dysphoria. Being trans isn't a social issue, it is about constantly feeling wrong in your own skin and doing what ever you can to help alleviate the extreme discomfort that comes with it.

I hope this helped to change your prospective a bit on trans people and the medicine surrounding why the chose to transition. If you have any questions or want to debate this further feel free to leave me reply!