I saw this on Twitter from a trans person and something struck me about it that hadn't occurred to me before. I won't do the standard tweet embed because I don't want to call them out.
Gender is personal. I don’t need to give my life story and realizations to prove to you my gender is ‘real’.
I found self love in my gender.
It’s expansive, growing, flowing, beyond.
It is not shameful.
It is brilliant, bold, divine.
My gender just is.
I found it terribly sad. We all go through periods where we are uncomfortable with our bodies, but most of us come to terms with our perceived flaws. Over time, hopefully, we accept them for what they are. Well, we used to, anyway. Nowadays, we can say that our bodies, our physical reality is wrong and needs to be changed with chemicals and knives. We're not told to get a grip and deal with it any more.
The person that wrote that isn't the problem. The problem is that we've discarded objective reality.
Yes, I know I've said that before, but I needed to get this down in writing to codify it in my mind.
Imagine that the person was schizophrenic instead and they thought their toaster was talking to them. An objective reality response would be to say, "No, your toaster is an inanimate object. You need to get professional help and find a way to get over this before it causes real problems." That would be kind, if a bit difficult for Mr. Toaster's friend.
The trans person above needed that and didn't get it. Twenty years ago, they would have gotten it and been better for it.
In your example of the schizophrenic, I think we need to remember that "professional help" includes antipsychotic drugs, which I understand have a number of sometimes dangerous side effects. But they are prescribed anyway, because the schizophrenia is regarded as a bigger problem.
ReplyDeleteAnd aren't the transgender people seeking professional help? And isn't it the professionals who are prescribing the hormone treatments/surgery, because they have decided that this is the most effective way of helping their patients?
Tim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for volunteering to play "So Who's Delusional?"
First, a definition (from the web) Delusion: fixed, false beliefs that conflict with reality. Despite contrary evidence, a person in a delusional state can’t let go of these convictions.
Second, the following questions are to be answered as 'Delusional' or 'Not Delusional', and on the first one where a change occurs from Delusional to Not Delusional, please explain WHY the change occurs.
A male adult person tells you that they are in truth:
1) a cast iron skillet,
2) an Oak Tree,
3) an eagle from "Lord of the Rings",
4) a Siamese cat,
5) a Mountain Gorilla,
6) a six year old boy,
7) a two thousand year old man (and no it isn't Mel Brooks),
and
8) a woman.
Third, assuming that you think that a least one of these is not delusional... so for that one would you...
1) put them on a stove top and try to make breakfast in/on them?
2) build a tree house on their shoulders?
3) hop on their back and let them give you a ride over the Grand Canyon?
4) give them a flea dip and feed them live mice for dinner?
5) give them a large bundle of leaves and expect them to build their own sleeping accommodations?
6) sign them up for Little League?
7) sign them up for Social Security?
or
8) sign them up for (encourage them to get) sex 'correction' surgery?
To me it is very clear that the answer to the first eight questions are, 'delusional', and to the second eight, 'no'.
Further, as to the surgery you ask: "isn't it the professionals who are prescribing the hormone treatments/surgery, because they have decided that this is the most effective way of helping their patients?". Perhaps. I have no doubt that the 'professionals' think it is the most cost effective method for themselves (can you say "Cah-ching!"). I do wonder about the morals of those who truly think that such a treatment is 'effective'. I also would like to have one of them explain to me how such surgery fits into the Hippocratic Oath, which reads in part, "I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free." And that question goes a million times over for anyone who would perform such surgery on minors.
And as a final tilt at this windmill, when some individual insists that they are of a different gender than the one they were born with, why do I have to call them by their chosen pronouns? Why does their mental image of themselves take precedence over my right to keep my mental state free from contradictions? Don't get me wrong, I have a niece (and yes they claim that's the right term) who insists on the pronouns 'they, them, theirs'. Ok it's a bit goofy to call a singular person by a plural pronoun but does it harm me? [Note: I had to go back and re-type some of those words to conform to the preferred pronouns. Did it gain anything? I don't think so.] Yes it harms me. Every time I say or type one of those non-'she, her, hers' pronouns I find a significant mental contradiction. Truly, I have sometimes been asked how I stay so-even keeled no matter how the tempest blows, I always answer that I am a realist. Sometimes I embellish the description as a 'rational realist'. But I simply can't be true to myself when I try to call her by 'them'. So try to explain to me (think of it as a bonus 17th extra-credit question) why am I expected to use a faulty mental image to conform to her image. [In a re-read I almost changed those last two uses of 'her'. Sorry, can't do it. Reality requires acceptance of things as they are.]
My point isn't about "who's delusional". My point is, what is the appropriate treatment? Do you have a recommendation in place of the the "sexual reassignment" that you object to so much? One that will actually do them any good?
ReplyDeleteExpecting people to get over mental illness just because you told them "stop being mentally ill!" doesn't work. Denying that they have a problem doesn't work either. But that appears to be all that you are offering these people.
Hmmm... Actually I was arguing about the treatment. I guess I was way too oblique. Hopefully what follows is clear.
ReplyDeleteI was positing that one cannot determine the proper treatment for a patient unless one has a clear understanding of the condition one needs to treat. I was hoping to get you to see that the basic issue isn't that the body is the 'wrong' gender, it is that the mind is in a state where the person has "fixed, false beliefs that conflict with reality" regarding their gender.
Now, I am not physician or a psychologist or a psychiatrist, so I can not say what is the proper treatment. Such an action is simply way too far out of my field of expertise. However, I am willing to state that it cannot be the case that trying to bend reality to fit a faulty mental image could possibly be the correct treatment. It is, in fact, it is closing ones eyes to the true issue. I can no more countenance "sexual reassignment" [your term] surgery than I would climb on the back of someone who thinks they are a giant eagle for a ride over the Grand Canyon.
And, no, I am not offering "stop being mentally ill!" as a treatment. However, I do think that those who think that are, in many ways, no different from those that say, "Well let's do irreversible surgery to change your body to match your mental image. That will fix your problem!".
==The trans person above needed that and didn't get it. Twenty years ago, they would have gotten it and been better for it.==
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, forty years ago, we gave up on the distinction between singular and plural, in the name of "gender neutrality".
==And, no, I am not offering "stop being mentally ill!" as a treatment. However, I do think that those who think that are, in many ways, no different from those that say, "Well let's do irreversible surgery to change your body to match your mental image. That will fix your problem!".==
ReplyDeleteAnd, when it turns out not to have fixed the problem, there is *always* the "caring" option -- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/10346616/Belgian-killed-by-euthanasia-after-a-botched-sex-change-operation.html
==Thanks for volunteering to play "So Who's Delusional?"==
ReplyDeleteEvery time I begin to imagine that Mr Eisele might have more to him than shilling for leftism and/or atheism, he always manages to clear away my delusions.
*Our* preferred pronouns are "We/Us/Our" (first person) and "my Lord and Master" (second and third person) -- thus, *you* may not address *Us* as *you*, but rather as "my Lord and Master"; *you* may nor refer to *Us* as *he*, but rather as "my Lord and Master". Also, it would be better for *you* always to say, "Yes, my Lord and Master", when responding to *Us*.
ReplyDelete===... why am I expected to use a faulty mental image to conform to her image?=
ReplyDelete[toff Brit accent]
No, no, no! You see, all you need do is carry around a note-book in which you have inscribed all the disparate (and/or changing) "preferred pronouns" of the many people you know (and do not know), and to religiously refer to it when referring to any of those persons in any way, whatsoever.
[/toff Brit accent]
Ilion accuses me of "shilling for leftism".
ReplyDeleteJust to be perfectly clear, my position here is (and always has been) that people have the right to make their own decisions about how to run their lives. And people who are not directly and significantly affected by those decisions, and whose opinion is not asked for, should mind their own business[1].
Ilion, if you think that is a "leftist" position, then I don't think you even know what "leftism" means. The USSR and China were/are the exact opposite of "minding their own business". You seem to use "leftist" as a general purpose curse/insult that translates to "anybody who disagrees with Ilion in any way". You have robbed it of all meaning. I am not sure that, at this point, there is anyone in the world that you haven't accused of being "leftist" at some point.
[1] I consider that posting something onto a blog like this, with an open comment block, amounts to asking the readers for their opinions, in case you were wondering.
==Ilion accuses me of "shilling for leftism".==
ReplyDeleteThere is a simple solution to get me to stop believing that you are shilling for leftism -- stop doing it!