Netty and I were talking about this the other night. For those who don't know, the psychological community (or, as I call it, the anti-science/logic community) now classifies so-called 'trans-sexuals' as their own gender. What they're trying to do is to seperate 'sex' from 'gender'--seperate one's physical orientation from their mental one. Now, with gay people, it's ok. If a guy decides he's more attracted to guys than girls, fine (it doesn't work w/ my own personal morality, but hey, this is America). BUT, the transsexual category is absurd. It's composed of people who think they feel other than what they physically are. Now, instead of a guy who's attracted to other guys, we have a guy who says 'I know I'm physically male, but I feel like a woman.' If you don't immediately see the absurdity in that statement, let me point it out. What does 'feel like a woman' mean? Guys, go ask the closest woman what it's like to be female, and girls, ask yourselves. The answers you'll get (if any) will have no more value than what you'd get asking me 'What's it like to be Chris?' (incidentally, I'd say something like 'it's supremely awesome'). If you were me, being me would be different. That's just how it works. Categorizing a guy who 'feels like a woman' as having his own gender is as ridiculous as categorizing Batman as trans-species because he 'feels like a bat.' He's just an insane person who dresses up like a bat--that doesn't make him part bat (Note: I am in NO WAY dissin da Bat--we's homies). In my view, if a person thinks they're something they're clearly not, that's a sign of mental instability, or at the least, mental weirdness. Now all you hippies out there--settle down. I'm not passing any moral judgements on transsexuals. I'm simply saying that I don't think that giving them their own gender category is a good idea, because it's an attempt to 'legitimize' a mental problem. If a person says 'I am a woman' one can see clearly for oneself whether that's true or not. "But if that's what they feel like, then isn't that what they are?" you say. No. If a person says he's Jesus, we don't say 'What up, Lord?' We say no. But, as I've learned, people today (and yes, I'll say it--I'm talking about liberals) don't like to be told they're wrong. They don't want to hear the word 'no', so they've devised an entire philosophy around not wanting to be wrong--the 'everyone's right' philosophy. You may not think you're familiar with this philosophy, but you probably are. They also call it 'open-mindedness.' In my version of 'open-mindedness,' one is open to and considers all possible sides of an issue before making a decision, and further, is willing at some future point to accept new evidence or arguments and change one's mind. The hippie version goes something like 'Everyone is right' (though, as the 'Free-thinkers Society' on campus does, they tend to leave Christians out of 'everyone'). By that philosophy, if a dude says he feels like a woman, who are we to argue? Well, I don't know who you are, but I can tell you that I'm a logical, free-thinking being who sees a confused man. Assigning a distinct gender to these people is like playing along with a schizophrenic's hallucinations.
But enough talk.
NOW IZ ZA TIME ON SHPROCKETS VEN VEE DANCE!
12 years ago
2 comments:
Okay so you complain that people who are "open-minded" don't accept new evidence to make a decision... let me provide you with new evidence. First of all gender is not dichotomous. It is continuous. Think about all the men and women (sex now) that you know... Are all women feminine? Are all men masculine? No, there are degrees of femininity and masculinity based on individuals differences. However, we live in a world where most people believe that there is only one way to be and two gender classifications. Yet, there are these people that have brains that work like the opposite sex. They have discovered that early maternal stress during pregnancy and other factors such as drug use and prenatal hormonal imbalance actually make the brain female (or male) when the dna and body is actually male (or female). What is a female brain? Well it responds to hormones differently and has differential development of certain areas (e.g. females have larger corpus callosums connecting the two hemispheres of their brain and males have a larger brain area known as the sexually dimorphic nucleus). There is also obviously very clear differences between "male" and "female" behavior. So these transexuals are trapped in a hell where they feel like women despite their bodies. Other examples of this... A child was circumsized and due to an operation mistake ended up losing his penis. The family had plastic surgery performed and decided that it would be better to raise him as a girl. When he/she was about 12 years she began having major social problems... why? Because her brain was still masculine, but she/he was trapped in a female (constructed)body. The chemicals that control our brains are incredibly powerful. Do not underestimate their influence. They are just people who go screwed over in this world by things that happened before they were born.
Well, first, the example of the boy who was raised as a girl after his penis was cut off is not an example of a transsexual. The problems are not the same. The baby boy has XY chromosomes and the boy without his penis still has XY chromosomes, and yes, boy brain structures and chemicals. They just called him a girl and raised him like a girl. This is also seen in hermaphrodites (and the other similar categories of ambiguous genitals). They are born with both genitals (sometimes the exterior genitals makes them look the opposite sex ad that of their DNA sex, but usually they have both), but still (according to the most recent psychological studies) most of them grow up, regardless of the sex that they were raised, to "feel like" their DNA sex. People with ambiguous genitals (whatever reason they have them) are NOT the same as transsexuals.
Also, I absolutely agree that gender is on a continuum, so why do males that are more feminine need their own gender (or vise versa)? They are feminine feeling males. They are DNA males. Even with a sex change operation and hormone therapy, they will still be a DNA male. People should accept themselves as they are. Feeling feminine while having male genitals is fine (or vise versa), just be who you are! Don't say you are a Woman or a man trapped in the other body. Be a manly person with female genitals who is attracted to who you are attracted to.
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