What if you could legally be considered transgender?

[RebeccaFog]

I believe the topic scenario is that choosing to be T is entirely voluntary.

[Tay]

Ah, but Reeb.  The slippery slope fallacy says that if the option is there, then ZOMG THE PEOPLE WILL ROUND UP THE TRANSSEXUALS AND FORCE THEM TO MARK AS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE!

Obviously.

The binary and their investment in it is FAR more important than the comfort of a group who probably doesn't exist anyway, right?

[Nero]

I'd be in favor of a third option, if all 3 boxes were completely voluntary.
However, I'm afraid if a third option were implemented, it would be meant for transsexuals who've had SRS, instead of non-binary people. Everybody would probably be forced to choose anatomical sex, with those who've had SRS expected to check 'transgender', and everybody else check their birth sex.
I'm afraid the more people transition, the more we move toward such a thing, given society's obsession with genitals.
Even those who 'accept' transgendered people feel we should 'warn' everyone what genital package we received at birth.

[Kate]

Even those who 'accept' transgendered people feel we should 'warn' everyone what genital package we received at birth.

Yep. Being totally selfish here, I LIKE the binary system. I WANT to fit into it... just on the other side now.

It's an irony the public sometimes doesn't get, where they might see me as trying to redefine gender lines and expression, pushing the boundaries and all that. And here I am, WANTING to fit into their binary, wanting to conform and just be another girl. I'm no activist. I'm not exploring gender divisions. I can see everyone finding out about my TS past saying, "Oh, so you're not REALLY female, you're transgender!"

BUT... I'm sympathetic to the plight of androgynes and other people who DO push the boundaries and question the lines, so I'd be more than happy to vote for a T option anyway... and just deal with the consequences to me.

But *I* am checking F

~Kate~

[RebeccaFog]

Ah, but Reeb.  The slippery slope fallacy says that if the option is there, then ZOMG THE PEOPLE WILL ROUND UP THE TRANSSEXUALS AND FORCE THEM TO MARK AS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE!

Obviously.

The binary and their investment in it is FAR more important than the comfort of a group who probably doesn't exist anyway, right?

yeah, I always forget the majority of people are jerks 

Posted on: September 04, 2007, 03:59:31 PM

I'd be in favor of a third option, if all 3 boxes were completely voluntary.
However, I'm afraid if a third option were implemented, it would be meant for transsexuals who've had SRS, instead of non-binary people. Everybody would probably be forced to choose anatomical sex, with those who've had SRS expected to check 'transgender', and everybody else check their birth sex.
I'm afraid the more people transition, the more we move toward such a thing, given society's obsession with genitals.
Even those who 'accept' transgendered people feel we should 'warn' everyone what genital package we received at birth.

From the way people have always treated me, I've always felt they all just assume I have no genital package to begin with.

[ChildOfTheLight]

It's an irony the public sometimes doesn't get, where they might see me as trying to redefine gender lines and expression, pushing the boundaries and all that. And here I am, WANTING to fit into their binary, wanting to conform and just be another girl. I'm no activist. I'm not exploring gender divisions. I can see everyone finding out about my TS past saying, "Oh, so you're not REALLY female, you're transgender!"

BUT... I'm sympathetic to the plight of androgynes and other people who DO push the boundaries and question the lines, so I'd be more than happy to vote for a T option anyway... and just deal with the consequences to me.

But *I* am checking F

~Kate~

Are we pushing the boundaries any more than you are?  I think it's only this: one box is completely wrong for you, and nothing will work for you until you can escape it for the other.  But for the androgynes of the world -- who didn't choose what they are any more than you did -- nothing will work until they can cut open both boxes, to extend themselves into -- and outside of -- both.

By all means -- check the box that's right for you, if one is.  Check no box or several if you must.  If anyone's not in this to end up in the place that's right for them, I can't understand why they are in it at all.

[Hypatia]

For the first time, I actually found a questionnaire where the three gender choices were Male, Female, Transgender. I contacted the National Center for Lesbian Rights about lawyer referral, and they sent me a questionnaire to have me in their database. Those were the three choices. I marked both "Female" and "Transgender" because my legal issue specifically concerned the latter, so in this case I saw it as relevant. But for life in general, no way.