It is also wrong to treat persons with gender dysphoria as powerless victims. I have a dear male friend who, if born in a different time would probably have transitioned. However he is married to a woman with health problems of her own and severe insecurity because of them. He realizes that his raising the question of transition would hurt her. So, he has resolved to live with it. I may be one of the only people he has trusted with this secret--probably because I had a transwoman husband many years ago. We were divorced and went our own ways but are still in contact.
Here is another thought that is currently unsayable. We have allowed and encouraged, in my view, children and youth to use the threat of suicide as the ultimate 'get your own way' weapon against parents. Parents are told "you can have a live daughter or a dead son". A threat of suicide must always be seen as a cry for help, never as an attempt to manipulate others. Society seems to have abandoned any expression of disapproval for suicide--still a sin for many religions, but even there a minister who refused funeral services for a suicide would be branded as heartless. People are allowed the language of "you're making me do this", "It will be your fault" etc. with no one daring to say--"no, if you chose to die over this, it is your decision. You are the bully, not we." I'm not sure how to turn this around--but someone needs to be thinking about it.
The threat of suicide also seems to be used now to get one’s way for other reasons. It’s very disturbing to see a 20 something young man using this threat to avoid adult responsibility and get his parents to keep on supporting him. This is not uncommon and is a tragedy for the parents. I know a couple of cases like this and it isn’t limited to men.
Even in societies in which suicide is sometimes admirable or part of a ritual to retain one's honor in an untenable situation (such as Japanese seppuku), it is supposed to be serious, not part of a tantrum at the world. Monotheist societies usually regard suicide as sinful, since it makes a decision that should belong to the creator. Not just a sin, but also a crime in some times and places. Punishment was to be deprived of normal burial and death rituals, shame for one's family, in some times and places the family could not inherit from a suicide, etc. Now most priests rule that suicide is obviously a sign of temporary insanity and therefore the person was not responsible and the act not a sin. I think some anti-suicide laws may still be on the books, but not enforced against survivors of an attempt. It is hard to imagine a modern jury convicting someone. While this is more comforting to the family it removes one of the ways societies discouraged such acts. Don't know what the answer is.
So we feminists fought for years to avoid the imprisonment of stereotypical womanhood. Now if you are a woman who wants to be a lumberjack, you must be a man. And the men who “transition” present basically as an exaggerated fe male stereotype. Amazing.
You could also add to Matt Walsh’s list re xenomelia ( a new term to me) that we don’t identify them as “trans-paraplegic”
Actually, it seems the trans community is trying to slide closer to the science. The notion that gender is a social construct is demonstrably disprovable by scientific data. Claiming gender identification to be the result of a body chemistry manifestation allows them to acknowledge the existence of only two genders that are biological based. The "born with" chemistry argument has not yet been disproven for the homosexual community.
I am a believer in this sort of argument. You have explained gender dysmorphia more intelligently and respectfully than any of the attempts by gender theory proponents I've encountered. I think I've seen the word "dysphoria" used which is a trivializing word. Maybe that's intentional, since it's meant to suggest a mood disorder caused by the moral failure of others, rather than suggesting, correctly I think, that the problem is a pathological rejection of one's own body. I strongly suspect that many people with this disorder are able to achieve self acceptance, but they must do so while being told, by people who seem as if they're caring and intelligent, that their bodies are indeed wrong and should be surgically altered. They might as well be living in medieval Europe for all the good that advice does them. Being male and feeling female, or vice versa, must be confusing enough for a person without being stigmatized as a freak either explicitly by hateful people, or insideously by people who think they're being supportive.
From the linked piece: "In 2016, around 0.58 % of the adult population in the United States identified as transgender. This estimate is based on the most comprehensive picture of the transgender community in the United States to date, and it should be the most accurate estimate available." This date precedes the now medically and socially promoted idea that children as young as 3 months can be transgendered.
The point is, the more we as a society fluff such dangerous nonsense, the more we're seeing the numbers of purported transgender cases grow. And yet the vast majority of them are simply social contagion, I'd venture. There's a lot of political and social capital to be gained these days by "identifying" as something you aren't.
I believe he is speaking of the genetic abnormality of what we used to call Hermaphroditism. It is the rare condition of being born with blurred or both male and female sexual organs.
No intersex person can impregnate herself. As with the rape cases when it comes to abortion, the left likes to foreground the fringe cases to promote the rule they hope to establish. They don't care about intersex people, just as they don't care about rape victims who are impregnated. They care about power, the weakening of the nuclear family, and creating a generation of dullards who will unthinkingly support their agenda.
It is also wrong to treat persons with gender dysphoria as powerless victims. I have a dear male friend who, if born in a different time would probably have transitioned. However he is married to a woman with health problems of her own and severe insecurity because of them. He realizes that his raising the question of transition would hurt her. So, he has resolved to live with it. I may be one of the only people he has trusted with this secret--probably because I had a transwoman husband many years ago. We were divorced and went our own ways but are still in contact.
Here is another thought that is currently unsayable. We have allowed and encouraged, in my view, children and youth to use the threat of suicide as the ultimate 'get your own way' weapon against parents. Parents are told "you can have a live daughter or a dead son". A threat of suicide must always be seen as a cry for help, never as an attempt to manipulate others. Society seems to have abandoned any expression of disapproval for suicide--still a sin for many religions, but even there a minister who refused funeral services for a suicide would be branded as heartless. People are allowed the language of "you're making me do this", "It will be your fault" etc. with no one daring to say--"no, if you chose to die over this, it is your decision. You are the bully, not we." I'm not sure how to turn this around--but someone needs to be thinking about it.
Rita
The threat of suicide also seems to be used now to get one’s way for other reasons. It’s very disturbing to see a 20 something young man using this threat to avoid adult responsibility and get his parents to keep on supporting him. This is not uncommon and is a tragedy for the parents. I know a couple of cases like this and it isn’t limited to men.
Even in societies in which suicide is sometimes admirable or part of a ritual to retain one's honor in an untenable situation (such as Japanese seppuku), it is supposed to be serious, not part of a tantrum at the world. Monotheist societies usually regard suicide as sinful, since it makes a decision that should belong to the creator. Not just a sin, but also a crime in some times and places. Punishment was to be deprived of normal burial and death rituals, shame for one's family, in some times and places the family could not inherit from a suicide, etc. Now most priests rule that suicide is obviously a sign of temporary insanity and therefore the person was not responsible and the act not a sin. I think some anti-suicide laws may still be on the books, but not enforced against survivors of an attempt. It is hard to imagine a modern jury convicting someone. While this is more comforting to the family it removes one of the ways societies discouraged such acts. Don't know what the answer is.
So we feminists fought for years to avoid the imprisonment of stereotypical womanhood. Now if you are a woman who wants to be a lumberjack, you must be a man. And the men who “transition” present basically as an exaggerated fe male stereotype. Amazing.
You could also add to Matt Walsh’s list re xenomelia ( a new term to me) that we don’t identify them as “trans-paraplegic”
What progressives want is to turn society into Hogeweyk, a dementia treatment center in Holland:
https://hogeweyk.dementiavillage.com/
My bird twitches when I read academic jargon deployed against academics
I’m an erstwhile academic. So.
That was a compliment, if it wasn't clear
Appreciate it.
Sorry if I sounded terse. I’ve been getting flamed by some douche in the comments at Instapundit, so my hackles are up.
You're doing very important work here, this essay in particular. I shouldn't be so obtuse.
Actually, it seems the trans community is trying to slide closer to the science. The notion that gender is a social construct is demonstrably disprovable by scientific data. Claiming gender identification to be the result of a body chemistry manifestation allows them to acknowledge the existence of only two genders that are biological based. The "born with" chemistry argument has not yet been disproven for the homosexual community.
I am a believer in this sort of argument. You have explained gender dysmorphia more intelligently and respectfully than any of the attempts by gender theory proponents I've encountered. I think I've seen the word "dysphoria" used which is a trivializing word. Maybe that's intentional, since it's meant to suggest a mood disorder caused by the moral failure of others, rather than suggesting, correctly I think, that the problem is a pathological rejection of one's own body. I strongly suspect that many people with this disorder are able to achieve self acceptance, but they must do so while being told, by people who seem as if they're caring and intelligent, that their bodies are indeed wrong and should be surgically altered. They might as well be living in medieval Europe for all the good that advice does them. Being male and feeling female, or vice versa, must be confusing enough for a person without being stigmatized as a freak either explicitly by hateful people, or insideously by people who think they're being supportive.
From the linked piece: "In 2016, around 0.58 % of the adult population in the United States identified as transgender. This estimate is based on the most comprehensive picture of the transgender community in the United States to date, and it should be the most accurate estimate available." This date precedes the now medically and socially promoted idea that children as young as 3 months can be transgendered.
The point is, the more we as a society fluff such dangerous nonsense, the more we're seeing the numbers of purported transgender cases grow. And yet the vast majority of them are simply social contagion, I'd venture. There's a lot of political and social capital to be gained these days by "identifying" as something you aren't.
No, 0.58% of the US population is just over 1/200 of the population, and is about 1.5 million people.
I started at 1.5 million and then thought the percentage meant I had to move the decimal over two places. Oops on my part.
I believe he is speaking of the genetic abnormality of what we used to call Hermaphroditism. It is the rare condition of being born with blurred or both male and female sexual organs.
No intersex person can impregnate herself. As with the rape cases when it comes to abortion, the left likes to foreground the fringe cases to promote the rule they hope to establish. They don't care about intersex people, just as they don't care about rape victims who are impregnated. They care about power, the weakening of the nuclear family, and creating a generation of dullards who will unthinkingly support their agenda.
I agree, it's always about the power with the utopian left. Their sense of caring is generalized and theoretical.