Gender Dysphoria
There's a quote, "never be so open-minded that your brains fall out"[1], that in the modern usage is attributed to Walter Kotschnig (1940) message to Holyoke College Students, explaining that, “real aim of education, to acquire a philosophy of life, intellectual honesty, and a constant search for truth.” e.g. you don't learn what you need to know in college, but how to learn it in life. Important message.
NOTE: The bae quote above (about not impressing kids with a gender, just because of their genitalia), hints that she stopped thinking in college, instead of learning how to think in life. So she thinks she knows something, instead of it inspiring her curiosity to learn more about the topic. But then again, if she looked too hard, she might learn that while bae is youth slang for 'babe', it's also Danish for poop, thus, she might choose a less fragrant moniker to go by (even if it is an accurate representation of what her thoughts are worth).
|
About 1 in 2,000 (or less) babies will be born with the mental illness/defect known as gender dysphoria (Gender Identity Disorder): DSM-5[2]. It's about .05% - .005% of the population. So sorry, adapting our entire culture, and changing the way we refer to the 99.95% because of the .05% is a mental disorder known as PCSD (Politically-Correct-Stupidity-Disorder), not to be confused with UCSD where a lot of folks have this malady. PCSD is far more prevalent than GD, and is exemplified with terminal narcissism, and the expectation that the world adapts to them, instead of them adapting to it.
Now GD seems like a sucky lot in life. I'm sincerely sorry for those sufferers, and empathize. And feel like they should be treated with respect and dignity. It's not their fault, any more than someone born without limbs, or other handicaps. And in life, society shouldn't mock or go out of it's way to demean those with impediments, but nor should it have to rework the entire language and culture just because of a few outliers. We can CHOOSE to be nice, or be assholes, and I prefer the former. But if you run around telling everyone else how to behave, you're choosing the latter (not the former) -- even if your cause is trying to force others to be nice.
NOTE: I realize that handicap is politically incorrect, and we're supposed to use, "disability" -- but if you look at the root of the two words, disability comes from "lacking the means/power/ability", and handicap means "impediment" or something that will make it "more difficult", but not impossible to overcome. Common sense demonstrates handicap is a far less offensive term, as it implies that those with handicaps CAN and do overcome -- whereas disability implies they just can't (don't have the strength). The latter being a far more crass (and demeaning) judgement to me. All of my handicapped friends seem to be living the best lives they can with their impediments, and not letting their lack of some attributes stop them. They are overcoming, and thus should not be pitied or diminished.
|
The point being that I get that the little mush-brained dogmatic bae, is just trying to comply with the indoctrination training she got in college, and be "sensitive" to the outliers -- by being insensitive, offensive and obnoxious to all the rest. But to that, I'd say, lighten up Francis[3]. Most babies aren't going to have that malady, and if they do, we'll cross the bridge at the appropriate time. The child will come to their own conclusions, and learn to cope, whether they are called he, she or ze -- and like it or not, they are going to be different, they need to learn that, and then they have a handicap to overcome (not a disability that the world must adapt to for them). They have a tough road ahead, and the least of their troubles is likely to be their parents referred to them by the wrong gender pronoun, until they were corrected.
Their lot in life is to want a sex change, either virtually (and to just live cross-gender), or physically (and get altered). And then, after they go through the expensive, difficult and painful series of surgeries (and hormone treatments), they are likely to be cursed with being an effeminate male or somewhat masculine female ( in a society that's not very nice to the outliers). And worst of all, they probably still won't be happy. From what I've read, even post-op, this population still has much higher cases of suicide, depression and mental disorders than the general population[4]. The problem runs deeper than a few physical alterations.
So treat people with this malady (gender dysphoria) with the dignity of someone who suffers from other mental illnesses: Anxiety, Mood, Schizophrenia, Dementia, and eating disorders. It's not their fault. It's not something to make fun of, nor is it all in their heads. It's broken chemistry and wiring, that can be lived with and overcome, with great effort and often chemical aids. But it's real, horrible, but they deserve to be loved and respected anyways.
But there's a difference between accepting people with those malady's and expecting the world to adapt to it:
- The former is accepting them as they are, and the world as it is.
- The latter is trying to change the world (denying the world), instead of expecting that individuals have to adapt to it (or accept the world as it is, and who THEY are going to be in it).
Conclusion
I'm for tolerating and loving outliers in society, but I'm not for forcing others to play along with a delusion, just because it makes them feel better. I'll call trans folks by the pronoun or name they choose, but I won't pretend that they don't have a disorder/malady, or pretend that society is all wrong/evil just because they are not the norm, or some asshat won't play along as well. I certainly won't criminalize not playing along (as some want).
It's like I'm generally politically correct, and try not to call people by what they ask. But you start punishing folks that don't, and fuck you! You went from a polite ask to bullying, and I don't tolerate bullies (even they have other maladies).
So love the individual, but the whole world shouldn't give up peanuts because you have an allergy. That's not how the world works -- and the more you try to force the world to adapt to you (or those you like/defend), the more you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of friction, disappointment, and alienating yourself from the world (and the world from you).
NOTE: PCSD is not funny either, it's a mental disorder where the young and dumb (of many ages and IQ's) want to change the world, instead of maturing and learning to adapt to it. But with education, experience, and maybe medication, I believe they can overcome their indoctrination and preponderances to be intolerant of everyone who disagrees with them, thus they can overcome their handicap of progressive intolerance, and maybe learn to love a society that doesn't want to change the language with new pronouns like 'ze' and 'babyself'[5], and everything it believes about gender identity, just because some know-it-all post-teenager took a class in trans-gender sensitivity. Breaking through denial is the PCSD sufferers first step in a long hard road to maturity.
|