(I'd like to write more about this, but I'm leaving for work in 15 minutes, so this is another half-baked, in-process post. More to come, I hope...)
I. How Do You Change Your Mind?
I. How Do You Change Your Mind?
In the past year or so, I've been fascinated to watch people talk on youtube about destransitioning from being trans.
This video below is by one of the gentlest--a young woman who has changed her mind about being a man. She touched my heart and also she brings up some hard hitting ideas about political philosophy and psychology (not that she calls it that, but it is).
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This video below is by one of the gentlest--a young woman who has changed her mind about being a man. She touched my heart and also she brings up some hard hitting ideas about political philosophy and psychology (not that she calls it that, but it is).
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It's amazing to see people change their minds about something massive.
It's not specifically about sex and gender for me, but all the ways people THINK & FEEL and COMMUNICATE about these things that is so fascinating and seems so socially (and personally) crucial to me.
I relate because in my almost-sixty years (! 59 next month!) I've changed my mind about some huge philosophies and life choices, and it's been... uh... an interesting process.
II. Moral Bear Traps
The other thing is that I was part of a hard-liners' movement when in the 1980s I was on the edge of the radical (exclusionary) lesbian-feminism movement, and I've seen that kind of hard-line thinking recently in Antifa movement and some hard-line trans activism.
And of course I see it in religious fundamentalism.
But I also see it in myself--the temptation to set up moral bear traps---or to step into them!
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And of course I see it in religious fundamentalism.
But I also see it in myself--the temptation to set up moral bear traps---or to step into them!
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I know I'm just throwing this out there without a lot of explanation ...not that you'll all want or need that, but I want to figure out better what I'm talking about! So, again, more to come.
In the meantime, a lovely video--no matter what you might think of the topic, she's so sincere and not blaming... I think she's worth listening to.
A sample of comments on this video--all the ones I read were supportive, and coming from all sides.
III. Proceed with Caution
And then, I've typed out part of a short article here on the topic of the biological effects of giving children with gender dysphoria drugs to block puberty.
Gender dysphoria is real (obviously), but less biological interventions (such as talk therapy) may help most children just as well.
Gender dysphoria is real (obviously), but less biological interventions (such as talk therapy) may help most children just as well.
Again, I love the tone here---rational, taking into account many perspectives:
"Pill-pushers: Drugs offered to transgender children need to be used more cautiously", The Economist, February 1, 2020"A rising number of girls wish to be boys and boys wish to be girls and a rising number of them are taking drugs to block puberty."...The main purpose of puberty blockers is to bring comfort to people with gender dysphoria...However, the combination of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones also leads to irreversible changes which, if they start early in puberty, include sterility...."One sign that something is wrong is that more people are "detransitioning"––re-identifying with their biological sex. Many of them turn out to be gay. Most of them are girls who wanted to be boys when they were in their teens...."To ban puberty blockers in all circumstances would be unjustified. Not only would it be harsh on some children, but it would also leave the issue permanently obscured for lack of new research. However, today's rush into treatment smacks of a fad. Many adolescents feel unhappy with the way they were made. Transitioning may be solace for some.
But for others it will be a dreadful mistake."
Kukos to that young woman for speaking so clearly about her experience as trans/not-trans. If being a boy had seemed like a real option when I was a child, I definitely would have wanted to change genders. However, I've always been aware that my gender unhappiness as a young person was rooted in society (especially back in the more sexist era I grew up in ) and not my body (except I hated my period because it was so painful!). I think it would have been easy to have been caught up by the idea that I was trans...because changing genders seemed like an easy solution for the discrimination I experienced. I'm grateful this wasn't an option for me...because I don't think it would have been the right one.
ReplyDeleteNot to say that there aren't people who's gender unhappiness isn't rooted in their bodies (and who really find being trans life-saving)...but so many people are just stifled by narrow social norms. Hooray for this woman for trying to find her own unique path.
It's so interesting that you're posting about this. I recently had a conversation with a lesbian friend who lamented that while it's good society is growing in its acceptance of trans people, it creates a special dilemma for some people. Butch girls and women, for example -- would they now be more likely to move toward transitioning rather than remaining butch women? In other words, does easier access to transition actually diminish overall social acceptance of butch women, and/or their own internal acceptance? (Same goes for femme guys.) I realize being trans is different from being a butch lesbian or a femme man, but I can see how there might be some overlap, particularly during the developmental years. It's an interesting subject with serious ramifications for certain segments of gay culture.
ReplyDeleteSteve raises excellent points in his comment. I certainly think in developmental years, it might be easier to chose to be trans--choosing a side, so to speak--rather than to come to terms with straddling two genders: butch woman or fem man. Especially true if you have the body type that would make passing as Cis, in your new gender, an option.
ReplyDeleteOf course, a reason young people want to transition sooner, is that they are more likely to be able to pass as cis if their original hormones never get a chance to kick in. It's a tough dilemma.
Thanks for the discussion, STEVE & BINK!
ReplyDeleteSomeone emailed me that it was nice to read these things discussed "in an inside voice".
Yes--they're hot potatoes--lots of screams around them.
I'm an old-fashioned feminist who wants SOCIETY to change, so butch girls and femme boys and others don't feel that have to modify themselves to be acceptable.
I know some people are plain old trans---no matter what society is like, or could ever be like, they want/need to modify their bodies, either medically or socially.
It's WONDERFUL that that is now possible and modicumly [is that a word] more acceptable, at least in some sections of society.
I think, for instance--and this is NOT the equivalent!!! (race is social in a way sexuality and gender is not)––
but what if black kids could transition to become white?
It would save a lot of terrible discrimination.
But I would advocate for societal changes, not skin changes.
Much to think on here.