Category: Sociology

How trans-people are really people, like all of us

Having spent a considerable and unfortunate amount of time around bigoted people, I came to a rather interesting train of thought that I want to share widely.

Let me start by asking you a simple question: would you treat a woman differently based on whether or not she had an appendectomy performed? What about a man who was born with six toes; would it change your opinion of him whether or not he had it removed? For the vast majority of people, and even the bigoted crowd that inspired this train of thought, the answer would be a resounding no: who are we to judge someone based on a corrective procedure they had to repair a defect with their body?

Okay, now here’s a similar and still simple question: would you treat a woman differently based on whether or not she had her penis removed?

“Stop,” I hear some of you calling. “That is a completely separate subject,” you ration. Why?

What makes the correction of a birth defect involving sex organs any different from correcting birth defects or ailments with any other organ? Are we, as a culture and society, so hyperfocused on sexuality that we can’t accept some people have congenital genital defects?

I have begun to wonder why trans equality and trans rights are even being discussed or even exist; that is like stating we need kidney failure equality or diabetic rights. They are all life-long conditions, involve a part of the body being defective, and often require surgery. What is so offensive, so different, so awful about a person having incorrect sex organs? The fault lies with those people who ‘other’ people who suffer from transsexuality, labelling them and saying they are different or somehow less of a person due to a birth defect.

There have been numerous studies that have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the brain can develop independently of primary sex organs, and that the brain can and does sometimes end up with the wiring of the gender opposite that with which a person is born. It is not a “mental disorder” in that there is no psychological problem; the brain is that of a man or woman, in a woman or man’s body. Why should it matter what organs they have?

You can argue that reproduction is a factor, and you may even be right for a few years; but there are numerous research programmes being done as you read this to find a way to reproduction for people with all manner of reproductive organ troubles. Transsexuality is a subset of that; but some women are born without ovaries, some men are born with undescended testes, and so on. Why should we treat people who were born with the wrong set of organs any different from people born with any other problem?

The way I see it, the labelling itself – the fact that people who have this “condition” are considered a different kind of person – is the problem. It is a medical disorder akin to spina bifida or cleft palette, not a label or category of people. I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would discriminate against a person for having cleft palette; after all, it isn’t their fault, they were born that way. Why should we treat transsexuals any differently?

To a final point, some may also claim that you must have the surgery performed to count as a “true” transsexual. This belief is wrong for a number of reasons. In the same way some people cannot have cleft palette corrected – their body may not be capable of undergoing surgery; they may be allergic to anaesthesia; they may not be able to afford the cost of surgery; and in some communities where healthcare is not readily accessible, they may not even know that a treatment even exists. The same factors can apply to a man with a vagina or a woman with a penis. Some of these people are still able to use hormonal therapy (also known as HRT) to correct at least some of their attributes to more correctly fit with their gender and feel better, while others are unable to obtain even that small amount of help. Instead of ostracising them, we should be embracing them. We must begin to acknowledge that we as a society should be caring for those who have real, physical ailments instead of antagonising them.

After all, wouldn’t you want compassion if you had a birth defect? What about a birth defect that perhaps even persisted in to adulthood or even beyond? Open your heart and mind, and show your fellow people dignity and respect.

 

Not having "resolutions" this New Years

Okay, I understand that many people like to make up “resolutions” for New Years. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

  • “This is the year I start eating healthier.”
  • “This is the year I go the gym ALL THE DAYS.”
  • “This is the year I volunteer to ALL THE CAUSES.”
  • “This is the year I will change (some basic trait) and instead (do something seen as better by society)!”

Right, that never works. And here’s why: the motivations are completely wrong. “New Year’s Day” is, by the by, just another day. It’s another day that is usually felt hung over, but still it is just another day. This is not a catalyst with which to make a large change, for yourself or for anyone else. What matters is not when you start something, but how and why you start it. Why do you want to eat healthier? Is it because it’s the “in” thing to do, or is it because you genuinely want to be healthy? Do you really only want to be healthy because it’s a new year?

I realise that many people view a new year as a “new beginning”; whilst a happy sentiment, and one that can sell a lot of greeting cards and party hats, it is nothing more than just that – a sentiment. The boundary of a year is an invented one. If you truly want to be healthy, you should do it because you want to be healthy, not because you want “this year to be different”. When you inevitably slip up — don’t be ashamed of yourself, we all do at one point or another — you can simply say “I still want to be healthy and I’ll keep at it” instead of “oh well, this year isn’t being different, I’ll try again next year”. You’ll eventually run out of next years with which to try again.

So what are my goals for this year? I’d like to move to a better locale than I live now and finally finish my schooling. However, these aren’t new goals I pulled out of my rear for the new year; I have been working at them for months now and I plan to achieve them this year. Plan ahead and don’t stop for the bumps. Be inspired to smooth over the next ones!

I suppose my major point to this is that the best thing you can do this New Years is enjoy it with your friends and family. And if you want to change something besides your wall calendar, you need to have the right reasons for it. You are definitely worth your own investment of time and energy. You just have to see yourself that way, and then it will pay off in dividends.

Now playing: ♫ Skyfall – Adele

Categorisation and judgement

I’ve noticed that, especially on the internet, people are judged based on broad generalisations and wide-sweeping categories. Why?

Some have told me that stereotypes are typically true, otherwise they wouldn’t exist. I am inclined to disagree because of how many stereotypes I’ve seen proved untrue. I think that this is a self-deluded rationalisation from people who want to have a reason to feel better about themselves after passing judgement. For example, some people feel that all programmers are “assholes”, and while I know some programmers are, this is largely not the case in my experience. Programmers are sometimes impassioned, sometimes lacking in empathy, but I rarely see ‘assholes’.

Some have told me that they have their own personal bad experiences with a member of a group, so they feel the entire group is bad. I don’t want to start a war about furries or musicians or bronies or [fill in the blank], but a single member of a group you haven’t interacted with much is probably the loudest one and therefore the poorest representation of what the group as a whole is like. In my spare time, I like to draw canines (especially wolves and foxes), and this has given me a bit of an overlap with some of the furry community. I’ve found most of them to be balanced, delightful people — though certainly they aren’t all that way — yet I still constantly run in to people who think that furries are monsters. I met someone once who actually hoped that all furries “die of horrible diseases you can only get from having sex with animals”… which fails to note that I haven’t even met a furry that does such a thing. Again, this is just a stereotype that is silly and causing unnecessary hate and tension to a group of people based on stories or a few fringe members.

What I implore you to do is to think for yourself and do a little research before you hate someone or a group based solely on something they like or their profession or the group with which they have membership. The results may surprise you.

♫ Now playing: Fade – AJITEK