There are different kinds of transgenderism. Some people have gender identity disorders, others have body dysmorphia, others are gay or transvestites, others are on the Autism spectrum and/or easily influenced by trends/social media/etc or want attention. The association between transgender and Autism is already established, as is the association between Autism and markers of genetic instability (higher number of gene mutations). First point of understanding is to realize not all transgender people are transgender in the same way. There is a good book about this, Galileoâs Middle Finger. Funny title but very well documented and researched, written by an âallyâ of the transgender people/community/movement. Nevertheless speaks some hard truths those people generally donât want to hear.
Speaking of that, why do these people accuse others of âtransphobiaâ any time we donât 100% agree with them? Their extreme reactions and crude irrationality betrays them, shows how we are dealing with some kind of mental illness. Incidentally this is the main reason why people often cave to transgender pressures to use their âpronounsâ or go along with the ideology of transgenderism even though they personally do not agree with it-- the same reason people do not make racist jokes about blacks or joke about Muslims in public, they are afraid of these people. There is an almost implicit understanding that when you are dealing with these groups there is an inherent element of violence or serious mental instability under the surface. The stakes are raised, you are not usually dealing with a calm, normal person.
Nothing wrong with calling someone by their preferred name, even if that isnât their legal name. Also nothing wrong with trying to be nice to others and accept them for who they are even if you donât personally agree with that. But being forced to lie, to speak untruths, that is wrong. To be forced or compelled to call someone something you know they are not, whether that is calling a man a woman, a woman a man, a human being a cat, whatever it is, simply irrational and a violation of conscience. No wonder people on the political right associate transgenderism with communist ideology, they have this inversion of truth in common. And not only the inversion of truth in the public sphere of discourse but the fact this is compelled, required, asserted with the not-so-veiled threat of violence behind it.
Most (but perhaps not all) instances of transgenderism are instances of severe mental illness. There is no reason to hate or fear someone who has severe mental illness (depends on the illness of course, you might need to be more careful around some of them) and it makes sense to have some sympathy for them. But would you cater to their illness? If a person with schizophrenia told you he was Jesus (not that uncommon) or that he can fly (also not that uncommon) would you agree with him? I mean yeah in the moment you might just agree with him to get him to leave you alone, or to avoid escalating him into angry reactivity. But you wouldnât seriously tell him that you agree and know he is right, at least most people wouldnât. Absent the threat of violence I mean.
Then again people are accustomed to lying all the time, for much lesser reasons. Truth-adherence isnât exactly a hallmark of human discourse or society. And of course in some cases we should lie or conceal the truth, for our own good or the good of others. Maybe you can argue that the transgender issue is one of these cases, I donât know. Never thought about it from that angle before.
Metaphysically speaking, a man is a man, a woman is a woman. Sex and gender are essentially the same thing seen from different perspectives. Sex is physical, gender involves this physicality of sex while also incorporating other things such as social norms. But we already have words for that, âgender rolesâ, âgender normsâ, âgender expressionâ. So when some zoomer tells you gender is a social construct because of âsocial norms, gender expressionâ you can just point out that isnât gender itself, we already have separate concepts for those things. Gender ITSELF is quite literally nothing more than a way to refer to someone as either male or female, a way to refer to the sex of someone in language. Using pronouns. Thatâs it. Some languages other than English also have other sexed/gendered nouns. Cars are male, tables are female, I donât know much about that stuff. I donât speak French or whatever other languages are like that, but it is interesting how they have male and female for non-living objects.
The male-female dichotomy is foundational and fundamental to human beings, this is just a fact. We are a sexually dimorphic species and come with a basic template of either male or female. XY or XX. You can refer to it however you want to. But that template is basic and does not change. Everyone falls into that template structure, even people who are more ambiguous or have genetic disorders affecting their sexuality. Some people are more or less âmasculine or feminineâ within those templates but they still exist in the template structure. Male or female. This is basic. And we already have separate concepts to capture these differences between people within their particular template, we understand that men are variously more or less masculine, women are variously more or less feminine, etc. Some people adhere to gender norms, expression etc. while others do not. Yet a man in a dress is not a woman. Anyone can understand that. Well, not everyone. Clearly some people allow themselves to be deluded to the point of insanity, which is a bit frightening to see.
What about someone who uses drugs and surgeries to modify their body physically and emotionally, so they can pass as the other sex? Well they are still what they are. A man who passes as a woman is still a man who passes as a woman. He does not âbecome a womanâ just because he can successfully pass as one. This is basic ontology. A thing is itself, first and foremost. Phenomenologically we can add on all proper associated concepts and attributes including how someone is perceived and experienced, to get to the fuller picture of the truth. Too bad most people donât care about that or are too lazy or just want to conform and do what they are told. Other people suffer from pathological altruism (this describes most liberal-left types) and as long as someone can be placed somewhere high up on the supposed Victim Hierarchy or can easily be seen as a subject of empathy/sympathy then this overrides logical and critical reasoning. Truth means nothing to a mother protecting her child, and the power of this material protective instinct is present in the pathological altruism experienced by many people today and even pushed as an integral part of western culture. The fact that someoneâs feelings might be hurt is supposed to matter more than the fact that something is false.
Regardless, transgenderism is quite interesting and I recommend you try to get a transgender friend. For better understanding of them. I had a transgender friend for awhile, it was pretty interesting. I learned a lot. I was always kind and deferential to him, I even referred to him as âherâ out of kindness. And I did start to think of him as a âherâ after a while, which show the power of words. It shows why they are pushing for this control over language, because language shapes our experiences with reality. If they can control the words you use then maybe they can actually make themselves into what they want to be, at least that seems to be the underlying intention.
