JK Rowling Backlash

[Riedquat]

Sounds like a hostile environment to grow up into considering the circumstance.

Quite common I guess. People aren't good at empathy - Oh, they say they are, but that's only in situations where they'd feel the exactly the same way. Extrapolating it to others, that's much harder. My earlier post notwithstanding (because on most gender aspects I'm fairly conventional) it's pretty apparent as soon as you encounter any difference of opinion. Personally I've got quite an intense dislike of a lot of modernity, to the degree of it leading to depression, and the number of times I've run in to people who are convinced that they are 100% correct it's all great and that if it doesn't work for me then there's something provably wrong with me... Even Chuck's expressed that opinion from time to time, admittedly in response to material that's so ham-fisted it looks more like a half-hearted attempt at setting up a strawman.

[Admiral X]

I can certainly empathize - imagine feeling like you were born wrong? Imagine all your life like you felt like something was wrong with you and you couldn't even understand why for the longest time? The thing is, my view on it is still that this is a mental issue akin to people who want to have various limbs amputated to feel "right." It's sad that they have this issue, but it's something they need to get help with so they can deal with it. Surgery doesn't seem to help that much given the high percentage of suicide, even with surgery. And as I'm very much of the belief that one's rights extend to the point that they infringe on the rights of others, all the stuff with making people use the correct pronouns and all that I feel exceeds that. Of course, I also feel like the trans movement has been infiltrated by people to whom it is merely a flavor of the moment that they are simply using to gain more power and influence for themselves.

[clearspira]

I can certainly empathize - imagine feeling like you were born wrong? Imagine all your life like you felt like something was wrong with you and you couldn't even understand why for the longest time? The thing is, my view on it is still that this is a mental issue akin to people who want to have various limbs amputated to feel "right." It's sad that they have this issue, but it's something they need to get help with so they can deal with it. Surgery doesn't seem to help that much given the high percentage of suicide, even with surgery. And as I'm very much of the belief that one's rights extend to the point that they infringe on the rights of others, all the stuff with making people use the correct pronouns and all that I feel exceeds that. Of course, I also feel like the trans movement has been infiltrated by people to whom it is merely a flavor of the moment that they are simply using to gain more power and influence for themselves.

From what I can tell, many treat surgery like a holy grail that will solve all of their problems, but find out that not only do they have a lot of their old problems they also gain a load of whole new ones. And before anyone jumps on me, this is not just limited to the trans community but indicative of human nature and the reality of trying to solve your problems through surgery. ''My life would be so much better with bigger tits... oh, wait... I am now getting loads of unwanted attention from men, and my back hurts, and the implant burst, and...''

In the instance above, the question isn't - or should not be - ''get surgery'' it is ''why am I feeling this way? Why do I feel my boobs are too small? What has led me to this point?'' because generally there is an underlying cause that needs to be worked on lest it still be there after the surgery and continue to work its way through your brain like cancer. Unfortunately many people are incapable of such introspection and want to jump to the quickest and most radical step. I wonder if SOME, not all, but SOME people who want to change their sex are the same and find that out the hard way.

[Mecha82]

Thing is there are no easy solutions in this world. In this issue lot of things still need to change including attitudes of society towards trans people in general. It can't be easy to have been born certain way, feel another way and have others act towards you like you are subhuman and below them.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Well that's not true, there are easy solutions.

Though in response to the previous posts, when you consider the aspects of mental illness and how conditions of trans identity are handled, I'd think the trans process shouldn't be expected to fill a hole for a lot of people, much less surgery speaking specifically.

[CmdrKing]

A reasonable summation of the case and why it was bullshit:

https://newrepublic.com/article/156104/biology-becomes-cover-anti-trans-bigotry

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

While I'm not sure if Rowling even knew what was going on with the trial, I haven't been able to really think of any common and public circumstance where "sex matters," as far as what her tweet was firing.

[Riedquat]

Well that's not true, there are easy solutions.

Only to the sorts of things that you never hear about (easy solutions aren't newsworthy because they get quickly applied as part of life getting on as normal).

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Well when you put it like that.

[AlucardNoir]

I think feminists who claim there is no difference between the sexes have a fundamental incompatibility with the idea that someone can identify as a woman or man. There would be nothing there to identify as.

To me, the whole "are trans people the sex/gender they identify with" is one of semantics and just comes down to individual opinions. Get a test that can objectively identify woman/man/female/male (and not just note similarities in brain structure or activity), get everyone to agree with those criteria, and you've got a reasonable answer. Otherwise, it's just a lot of people shouting at each other.

Oh, look, somebody who has no idea how science works. That kind of absolutist thinking only works for religions mate.