Why do I write that?
It’s time for Americans to agree on at least ONE thing – that if an individual hold a fixed idea that is wildly at odds with actual reality, that is what, in a sane world, would be called crazy.
Such a crazy idea is the declaration that a person can FEEL like the opposite sex, and be reinforced in that delusion by medical, legal, and psychological providers. That people claiming to be a part of something called the Reality-Based Community see no contradiction in that assertion. And, that taxpayers are somehow responsible for paying for and facilitating those medical/surgical changes for the delusional wretch.
In other words, seriously WACK.
3 comments
Let’s get this out of the way: I support the lawsuit. Government bureaucrats have gone beyond any legal reasoning in enforcing their agenda and it needs to be seriously curtailed. This suit is ONLY A STEP in the right direction.
But let me address this:
Prior to the ‘self-identification’ craze, medical and psychological providers had a good way to weed out the mentally impaired and socially destructive individuals from claiming things unsupportable. I went through months of psychological testing and therapy before the medical community accepted MY KNOWLEDGE that my body/brain was incongruent. As they can not restructure the brain, they restructured my body to gain that congruency. Something I have been happy with for going on 30 years….long before societal acceptance or Leftist activists every considered using our fate.
As a last point in MY specific case: For 8 years I was having significant focal seizures (30-40 a day) even on heavy doses of anti-seizure drugs. Doctors could not explain the reasons, nor stop them for any length of time. When I began hormone therapy my seizures stopped within 6 weeks. They never returned. Both my endocrinologist and neurologist said the hormones could not be responsible for them stopping, but neither could explain WHY they stopped either. A form of androgen insensitivity? That took until I was 26 before expressing itself?
Science is NOT settled. Maybe your view is ideologically based more than scientifically?
Author
I’m not arguing with your gender dysphoria, nor the personal satisfaction you have experienced with your use of hormones.
What I am arguing with is the idea that a man, even one augmented with hormones, can claim to “feel like a woman”. If you are not a natal woman, how would you know?
You may feel as you THINK a woman would feel. But, you can no more understand the complexities of body/mind/social and cultural experiences than a man hopping into a tanning booth and putting on a kinky wig can truly understand what it is to be Black. Or to say that he FEELS like a Black man.
Women, like Black people, vary considerably. Some have relatively stereotypical responses to life’s events. Others do not.
Most women are only marginally competent at math and analytical thinking. Some excel. On the other hand, most women are superior at oral and written communication. They are generally better at interpreting other’s emotional states, and managing interpersonal interactions.
All of the above is stereotypical – but, generally, accurate.
On the other hand, there are significant anomalies between individuals. Some, like myself, tend to do well with logical and analytical tasks. Former jobs included computer programming, network administration, teaching physics and chemistry. Currently retired, but still selling health insurance – which involves a lot of technical terminology, licensing and certifications, and presenting complex information in a format that the average person can understand.
And, operating an amateur radio station at home, and interacting with a mostly male membership at my radio club activities.
So, not the norm. At least, not the traditional female norm.
So?
Even though I constantly interact with men, and am fairly adept at understanding the way that their brains function, I wouldn’t say that I FEEL like a man. That ability is hard-wired, and not all that affected by hormonal levels.
I’m a woman. An atypical woman, but a woman nonetheless.
Now, for legal and social purposes, a person may be said to have changed genders. Yet, for all that, underneath, they remain the person they were born to be. The hormonal overlay may coax more traditionally female functioning into the framework, but the framework remains.
I accept the people I’ve known who have gone through that expensive and lengthy process. I do call them ‘she’ and ‘her’ – I think of that as akin to a legal fiction. It’s not exactly true, but, for many purposes, it might as well be. And, the personal commitment they have made to the changes deserves that sign of respect.
So, does a M-to-F person FEEL like a woman?
As much as they can.
Linda,
Thanks for the considered response.
How do you know you ‘feel like a woman’? You feel like you. And because you were born female, assume that it is consistent…with how other women feel. But as you point out, you are atypical. Based on decades of paying attention I can say that my gut reaction, my first reaction, my responses tend much more alike to women than men…starting from an age before “I” knew what it meant – based on family stories. That tends to be typical of us – we are more typically reactive as the opposite than our natal gender. Not all…but most. I am pretty geeky, but much better emotionally/socially than a ‘male geek’.
I would suggest, without knowing the individuals, that they fit in with their peers pretty well. Absent a genetic test, you’d be hard pressed to pick them out of a crowd. Sure, some physically can’t overcome the bone/muscle structures they were born with, but many others, most of us, “blend” in well.
I was born male, will die male, but my brain and body fits in within the ‘norms’ of other women.
Much more than a legal fiction, but it is best we can do. Like any other medical response to a birth defect, it doesn’t replace the original, just allows us to function, in society, by society.