It’s Time to Lose ‘I Didn’t Choose’ (to be Transgender)

[Seras]

Interesting, however I have to ask.

What of the individual and his concern for the body? For me at least I think that my feelings concerning these issues stem from the incongruity between my self (that is the "me" my conscious being, of which I believe gender is part) and the body I possess. I feel these issues would arise irregardless of a society that fully accepted them and allowed me to lead the social role I desire. Even if I were permitted to act and feel the way I wanted to, there would still be this bodily distinction whether the society embraced it as it does now, or did not.

Of course I would never be so obnoxious as to claim certainty! Especially on such issues as these. I am sure some would be happy in your theoretical ultra accepting society. However I do not think they all would. Also this differentiation can still be pinned upon the individual and his feelings as opposed to the society. I think you could only blame society as the prime cause of "trans angst" if in your thought experiment it caused all trans people to be happy with their situations.



Then again maybe there is no prime cause after all! 

--
Please note:If I appear blunt or rude in discussions I apolagise. Three years of writing philosophy papers has given me quite the confrontational writing style when it comes to these things, and I have been misinterpreted in the past as being an arrogant ass. Well I think it was misinterpreted anyway!

[Arch]

What of the individual and his concern for the body? For me at least I think that my feelings concerning these issues stem from the incongruity between my self (that is the "me" my conscious being, of which I believe gender is part) and the body I possess. I feel these issues would arise irregardless of a society that fully accepted them and allowed me to lead the social role I desire. Even if I were permitted to act and feel the way I wanted to, there would still be this bodily distinction whether the society embraced it as it does now, or did not.

I think that in a more accepting society I would still be...unconventionally gendered. But I acknowledge that I am a product of my society. So I wonder how much of the incongruity would exist, and how severe it would be, if my surroundings weren't always reinforcing a strict gender binary and the notion that biology equals sex/gender. I mean, we imbibe all of this with our mother's milk. It's pervasive, and our brains change in response to repeated stimuli. So maybe my sense that I should have had a penis and testicles wouldn't be so strong if I weren't always being told, both directly and indirectly, that men have penises and testicles.

What if I had been brought up in a society that said that most men have penises but some do not? Perhaps I would take pride in being an unusual sort of man. Maybe I would actually value my bonus hole instead of feeling that I had been gypped. (I have to say that that is hard for me to imagine. Very VERY difficult. But I'm trying.)

I don't know. Just speculating.

P.S. I don't find your style confrontational or obnoxious, just inquisitive.

[kyril]

Well, can we say conclusively that we would still transition even if our society were more accepting of "gender variance"? What if we lived in a society that, in our earliest childhood, asked us how we identified, accepted that identification, and then reinforced that identification by treating us with dignity and respect? What if all little trans boys were unquestioningly treated as boys and then men, little trans girls were treated as girls and then women, and folks in the middle were greeted with acceptance and a non-binary view? What if our culture were not heavily invested in the body but went by what we claimed for ourselves? Can we still say, with certainty, that all of us who are changing our bodies now would still insist on changing our bodies?

We all grow up in a society. So I don't think it's possible to fully extract our motives and actions from that society's influence.

Would your hypothetical society make me stop bleeding and leaking?

[LordKAT]

Would your hypothetical society make me stop bleeding and leaking?

or allow me to wake up and not go "oh that's right, no penis." even when I would swear it was there when I first reached for it.

[Arch]

Pooh. Now you guys are just trolling.