Discrimination as a means to gain an unfair advantage

[Theo]

I have been discriminated on national origins, race, gender and gender identity. There is a definite pattern and obvious reasoning behind.
My particularly persistent and painful experience is gender discrimination. I have observed that there is a prevalent expectations of a woman acting like a woman. All my attempts to have the term defined, ended in fiasco. It is usually means male construct of posture, appearance and areas of interest. Interesting, but all of these are defined from outside, by male. A woman is judged on all these "expected" points when she attempts to become her own person. All these images are imposed from the outside, and she is judged as some disembodied entity, void of race, religion, nationality, personal experience, history - but NEVER, gender. A person in a compilation of things and these things make up a person. But a woman often is approached with much familiarity and if her person was somehow known, because of her gender. She never objects and there is never a forum or an honest logical debate on the merits of a woman role. Many women I've met seem to be upset with discrimination but they personally neither say "no", no take action, no change their dress and behavior. They seem to want to be constructs yet to be treated as equal human. This is illogical and does not make sense. It is irrational. I wish women embraced rationality and spent more time analyzing why they do things and why is it that no one can judge them by themselves.
By the way, irrationality is the biggest enemy of progress and it increases with lower tendencies such as jealousy, lack of self-knowledge and knowledge.
The same technique is used against immigrants and social "deviants." Society is largely irrational and uneducated on its history and issues, people are so warped up in survival, they cannot evolve. I invite those who have experience the discrimination and abuse on the factors of national origins, racial (non-Black) discrimination, gender discrimination and gender identity discrimination as FTMs, to join me for a conversation. I have started a site specifically for dialoguing. If people could share their experiences, anger and all, that would be great. We have to acknowledge the abuse instead of rationalizing it. There is no "understanding" the evil. It is just a way to avoid action. I am tired of being hurt and discriminated against, these actions are illegal and unbecoming of American nation. If you want to join me in this, share a story, and let me know if you want to start a serious discussion on merits of your points.
One prerequisity for discussion: logical acumen adn self control. If we are to get to the truth of the matter, we can't allow our emotions and irrationality to run away with us. It is the easiest thing to feel and to lash out, and to react. Thinking is becoming of Homo Sapiens and thinking must be conducted properly if truth of the matter is to be discovered. So, if anyone likes chaos or erratic behavior, perhaps this offer is not for that person.
Only reasonable and self contained people need apply...

[Dennis]

I am of the opinion that you cannot imagine male privilege until you have experienced it from both sides of the fence. And I think, as a white male professional born female I am in a very unique position. Many transmen will deny the issue of male privilege, perhaps because they have have had other characteristics that denied them that privilege when they transitioned.

It is, I can now say, absolutely impossible to notice unless you've been on the other side. Once you've been on both sides, it is irrefutably there. As a 42 year old white, able bodied, lesbian female lawyer, I got a certain amount of credibility. From clients, members of the public, other professionals, etc. As a 45 year old white, able-bodied, heterosexual male lawyer the difference is light years away. I like it. Not the difference, but I like the way I'm treated now. It feels right, commensurate with my experience and qualifications, and real. I never noticed before transition how those little micro things would denigrate from the way I functioned and the way I was perceived. Now, getting the full meal deal, I know the difference. I think, although I may be wrong, that racism works in the same, insidious way.

Dennis

[Cindi Jones]

They seem to want to be constructs yet to be treated as equal human. This is illogical and does not make sense. It is irrational. I wish women embraced rationality and spent more time analyzing why they do things and why is it that no one can judge them by themselves.

Uh... yea. I suppose.  We like to be treated with respect.  We enjoy compliments when we make an effort to look nice. And we like to be paid the same for equal work.

I'd be happy with that.  Nice observations by the way.

Cindi

[Doc]

But a woman often is approached with much familiarity and if her person was somehow known, because of her gender. She never objects and there is never a forum or an honest logical debate on the merits of a woman role. Many women I've met seem to be upset with discrimination but they personally neither say "no", no take action, no change their dress and behavior. They seem to want to be constructs yet to be treated as equal human. This is illogical and does not make sense. It is irrational. I wish women embraced rationality and spent more time analyzing why they do things and why is it that no one can judge them by themselves.

Change her dress and behavior how? I doubt there is a woman in the world who wants to be a construct. She wants to be a person, but she also wants to wear the construct of femininity. I may be misunderstanding you, but you seem to be saying that women should discard femininity because it is associated with subserviance. That is something like telling black Americans to eschew soul-food because that style of cuisine originated in slavery. Soul food is still tasty, and femininity and subserviance are not the same thing.

Masculinity is also a construct and it also allows other people to approach us with familiarity. Not the same 'woman, must be harmless and pettable' familiarity, but there is a familiar code of behavior about how one approaches someone who appears to be a man, and what one can expect to see in the course of getting to know such a person. Men are not judged by themselves either, but also as men. Do men want to be constructs? Men gain an advantage from the construct of 'manhood.' Some part of the construct of 'womanhood' is often used to allow women to be exploited. And everybody loses something bigger than all that, 'cause you know. Here we are, meeting each other, and not only are we struggling with the limits of our meat-suits, we've got to struggle with the limits of our own whacked-out ideas about meat-suits. What a life.

I believe that humans ought to be equal humans without changing their dress and behavior. Unless they are behaving like absolute filthy yard-apes. I do agree that women take too much guff and should say no to a lot of it. I know that if I appear to be male I can go around being blunt and rational and pointing my intellect at people like a magic ray-gun and that's fine, but it's offensive if I do it when socially a woman. This sucks for me, sucks for guys like me, and sucks for women who reason that way, and should be stopped. But it doesn't mean that all women should change and start doing pointing mind-guns. For many women, it doesn't come naturally. There is a feminine way of weilding one's intellect that I can't do, but that I have learned to recognize and understand and admire. I think a lot of our world's troubles comes from the domination of cultures that tend to dismiss the feminine style and format of reasoning as stupid or irrational. I think a lot of the guff women take is not because femininity forces them to take it, but because femininity is used as an excuse not to take a person seriously. The problem is not how to get women to embrace rationality, but how to open our value-systems and reasoning-methods to get the most out of feminine minds. I think women with big mind-guns and good aim can be a major force in making that happen, but I don't think that making women as a group like that is a goal.