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Money is such an integral part of all of our lives. Our wealth (or lack thereof) determines our worth. In a society where our contributions are measured in capital, either from our occupational earnings, inheritance, or providing a service and/or product worth the spending of someone elses funds, there is a reliance on the monetary system because it determines our actions and inactions.
I have a really strong issue with this paragraph. This might be a popular opinion in societies in the States and Western Europe but a popular opinion doesn't necessarily make it a fact. It's still an opinion.
Nor does the fact that it's a popular opinion give it any sort of moral justification. Slavery involving African Americans was once popular in the United States, the exclusion of women from the democratic process was popular more than a century ago, and 80 years ago the persecution of Jews was popular in Germany.
Today the death penalty is still popular opinion in parts of the world, even though it's an outdated form of retributive justice with no deterrent effect and no benefit to society. Furthermore it promotes violence in culture and makes the killing of innocent people by the State acceptable.
You cannot determine a person's worth by any superficial means, especially not by monetary standards. Your typical Russian mafia boss earns far more than most people, as does a typical Colombian drug baron, and yet they are somehow more 'worthy' than the majority of people in society?
Really? Are you sure?
Then there's this ..
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In a perfect world, an individual's trans*ition would be marked by celebration, dedicated to their instinctive disconnection from their bodies and/or the societal binaries that surround us, and without cost (or, at least, fully-funded). But this isn't a perfect world.
Way to go to accept the current situation and not bother to aspire towards a society which is mature, civil and just.
This is how we are arriving at the current mindset of being 'entitled' to live in society without any sense of social responsibility. This is what is transforming basic civil rights of universal healthcare, welfare and education for everyone into privileges which can only those who are well off can afford.
This is also what fuels the thinking that people are on welfare or are poor because they are undeserving, because they are not as well off as we are, they aren't as successful or resourceful as we are, they are not as 'productive' as we are.
This is how people get into the mindset that the poor and those on welfare are a burden and there are many who support and vote for politicians who persecute and villify the poor and jobless by denying them free access to healthcare and education and cutting back on welfare support.
As a result millions of lives are wrecked and futures destroyed just for the desperate emotional need to feel worthwhile and validated of others.
Lost within all of this is the issue of transitioning for trans folk. Sure being trans isn't an illness and by and large gender dysphoria isn't life threatening per se.
Yes 'per se' because in some cases gender dysphoria is so serious and can be so severe that all it takes is the wrong emotion on the wrong day and you no longer have someone who is trans, but someone who has committed suicide.
This also takes nothing away from the fact that transitioning is often a medical necessity to enable the trans person to be able to function adequately on a basic level in society and lead a fulfilling, meaningful life on a par with everybody else.
Some trans folk have the good fortune to have the physical profile and features to be passable and 'socially acceptable', some even get to live by way of stealth. But for many this isn't possible, yet it would be possible if they were given enough hormones, therapy and surgical procedures.
And even those who are passable and able to live in stealth they still need the same hormones, therapy and surgical procedures. They too can still be affected by gender dysphoria.
What right does society have to determine who is acceptable in their acquired gender and who isn't? What right does society have to deny these people equal opportunity to function and live lives on a par with everybody else? Where is the value to society of forcing such people into abject poverty and living off welfare?
I'm of the opinion that anti-discrimination legislation isn't enough and transition should be a choice available to every trans person and part of a system of universal healthcare. This is not asking much, especially when you consider the benefits which are currently available for maternity and women who greatly outnumber trans folk in society. I feel that all I am asking for in essence is for society to feel the same sense of responsibiity to trans folk as they feel towards others who need medical and welfare support.
This is something which can happen as a result of a change in culture and a few decisions.
I disagree that this is part of a perfect world, and feel that it is something society as a whole can aspire to.
