Quote from: ErinM on February 13, 2014, 10:54:16 AM
Call me pessimistic, but from a biological standpoint I can't see transsexualism and/or homosexuality being an evolutionary advantage. Assuming there is a genetic link, the introduction of genetic variance does not always equate to advantages. I can easily say this with personal experience.
That being from a cultural prospective I do agree that diversity can serve to better everyone.
I agree.
Everything that contributes to increase the survival of our species (i.e.the chances of us getting old enough to procriate) will be selected by nature and will go forward to our descendants. As our society and technology progrides, sometimes some genes that were deleterious won't make difference anymore. Things that were potentially fatal on the past, as myopia (imagine a man with high myopia trying to flee from a huge bear...if he can't even see the bear, he will be eaten and he won't pass his genes forward). Genes that give us better strenght or intelligence will much likely result in a more capable human being and will probably be passed forward.
On our modern society we don't need to flee from bears anymore and we also can wear glasses! Lucky me I was born in modern times or I would be dinner for some hungry wolf.
All this to make an analogy. Homossexuality and transexualism don't bring any advantage for the procriation of our species. Of course, they contribute on many other ways and I am not saying it is deleterious or that it can't bring advantages, but when we talk about our ability to procriate, homossexuality and transsexualism works exactly on the opposite way. Our "condition" makes us higly unable to pass our gene forward and, if we won't have children, this gene will stop right here.
Of course some transexuals were married and have children, as it happens with some homossexuals...however most of us won't. We (MtFs) become chemicaly castrated in order to be transformed into a woman and as we lack the right organs, we won't be able to have children. There is no way we can pass our "tendencies". Nature is making it's job and indeed, it is a waste (logically speaking) to maintain individuals that won't be able to procriate inside their own species.
As it was already written, we are seeing an increase on the number of transexuals/homossexuals because our population is increasing. Evolution will work to extinguish us, not the opposite way.
But, talking on a less evolutionary way...as our technology progresses, we don't need anymore strong men able to hunt a lion and caring mothers that need to protect their children all the time. Our society will evolve to a more uniform society with less differencies from men to women, perhaps even an almost androgynous species...but the sexual roles will much probably stay the same once we still need a woman and a men to bear a child.
If someday our technology makes possible that a transwoman can have a biological child after transitioning, then there will be the time when transsexualism will evolve the same way as myopia, because it won't matter anymore.
