It is very concerning to me that a fair sized portion of transsexual people STILL use how feminine (or masculine in the case of f2ms) they are to justify their decision to transition. Or even worse, accuse other people who have transitioned and even had surgery of not being a transsexual based on how masculine acting they are (or feminine for f2ms)(*). When TSs say such things all they do is re-enforce the view that people transition simply based on acting more like the 'other gender' than the gender role they were assigned at birth.
In the past, when western culture's views on gender roles were much more rigid and people were far more convinced that nature not nurture was the main reason behind the differences in behaviour between men and women the type of argument I mentioned above had some success. Increasingly though, gender roles are becoming less restrictive and it's becoming more acceptable for people to behave 'like the other gender'. Still though, the classical justifications above probably still have some success, particularly with members of the older generation. 5, 10, 20 years into the future however? Such arguments are going to be routinely used AGAINST transsexual people. If we wait till that time before we start to argue in a more sensible manner it's going to take a long time to undo the damage already done.
More and more, cisgender people are accusing TSs of 'fighting the wrong battle'. They see us as people who have mutilated or wish to mutilate ourselves just to fit into society more easily. From their perspective, it seems so drastic and unnecessary for someone to do something so serious to themselves just so they're not seen as abnormal. Who can blame people for holding this view, it's a logical conclusion from the justifications transseuxal people themselves have voiced repeatedly.
When TSs demand to be accepted as members of their adopted gender role by arguing that it's a physical medical condition and they can't help it, they're simply trying to expand the definition of 'normal' to include them, rather than say it's ok to be something a bit different. Further proof that reinforcing stereotypes is part of the transsexual agenda. Is it any wonder that a proportion of queer identified cisgender people really don't have any time for transsexuals?
I'm not saying don't be binary identified and I'm not saying don't be a feminine woman or a masculine man. What I'm saying is don't use how gender role conforming your behaviour is or how 'normal' you are to justify being a transsexual because it simply DOESN'T WORK. The counter arguments are so simple and easy to make that any idiot transphobe (or even person that has nothing against transsexuals but just doubts that our condition is real) can make us look stupid with little effort.
Once we stop doing this, and instead start arguing based on us having a neurological condition we might actually be seen as something other than ->-bleeped-<-s that have 'GONE TOO FAR'.
On a separate note, I can already visualise people reading the previous sentence and getting worked up because neurological might imply mental condition not physical condition. First think of it this way, people with Asperger's or ADD or similar conditions are not freaks or 'mental', they're just people with unusual neurological wiring. TSs are in an even better position, their neurological condition is just having the 'wrong' one of two normal states (brain wired male / brain wired female). People getting worked up at this explanation because 'its like saying we're mental' need to realise it doesn't imply what they think it implies.
XY chromosomes generally produce male body, male mind (ignoring genetic issues like SRY problems or androgen insensitivity). We can easily explain m2fs as having male body, female mind, i.e. a neurological (or god forbid 'mental') condition. However some people seem to prefer to argue that it's a physical condition. Come up with a justification for how m2fs have female brain, male chromosomes and male hormones but somehow their body is the thing that is wrong, then give some consideration to Occam's razor.
(*stating other people's gender identity's are wrong simply because they might behave in a manner somewhat consistant with the the gender role they were raised in is low, very low. I'm not saying ALL TSs are 'genuine' but dismissing people on such shallow grounds really shows what a limited view of transsexualism some TSs truly have)
