The problem is that our liberal culture encourages us to respond to these experiences of unhappiness by blaming the ever-so-slight remnants of the traditional “NO!” This makes things worse. The LGBTQ project is a good example of this. Nine times out of ten, a “transgendered” individual would be far happier if he or she were simply told, with effective authority—you’re a boy or girl.
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Or not. While my old life certainly wasn`t some gehenna, since my transition literaly everything has improved, both for myself and my family, not to mention I was finaly able to have, what is pretty much an almost ideal relationship. Yeah, I`d have to say, you`re full of shit.
"Nine times out of ten, a “transgendered” individual would be far happier if he or she were simply told, with effective authorityyou’re a boy or girl.
Nine times out of ten, R. R. Reno is full of shit.
I would know, because I've been reading this First Things for almost 2 years.
Unhappiness is one thing; we all experience this from time to time. When you're unhappy 24/7, year in and year out, it becomes despair.
Before transgender people were allowed to live as the gender they actually are (i.e. when they were told with authority “you’re a boy/girl, or else”), many drowned their despair in alcohol and drugs, quite a few killed themselves, and some were murdered. Is that what you meant with "be far happier"?
@Swede : I would expect it to be so, yes. After all, any transgender people who kill themselves won't be around to pollute the Republican utopia, right?
@1703951
Actualy, most of these conservative religious bigots are perfectly happy with drinking and drug abuse, as long as everything is done under the rug, their definition of happines for transfolk would probably be "be as miserable as you want, drink yourself to death, just as long as I won`t have to look at you in a dress/pants."
"With effective authority?"
S/he is the the only effective authority there, bucko. Your opinion doesn't rate.
The problem with our conservative culture is that it encourages us to respond to these experiences of unhappiness by blaming the groups of the traditionally oppressed. this makes things worse...
I'll not use specific examples because I think that would be a bit too contentious.
You know how the saying goes: if the hat fits, wear it.
"Liberalism" is about getting a new hat when the old one doesn't fit. Conservatism is about forcing the old one to fit a bigger head.
I was told that I was a boy and that I should act like a boy, often. My father humiliated me in a restaurant because I was wearing jewellery and had long hair. My grandfather said that he was ashamed to call me his grandchild because I was artistic and sensitive as opposed to mathematically-inclined and emotionally detached.
My girlfriend (who I was all but engaged with) was often frustrated by my lack of masculinity and tried to, as you put it, tell me "with effective authority" that I was a boy and should act like one. She would give ultimatums and one night she even kept me up till four in the morning trying to get me to swear away my "nasty little thoughts", saying it would be easy to do so if I loved her. I tried to. I loved her more than anything and at the time pleasing her was more important to me than my desires to express my femininity. But I assure you, trying to be her ideal husband-in-the-making was not a happy affair. It made me sick and in the end she left me.
So no, Reno. Telling a transgender person that they are the gender they were assigned at birth does not fix us. It does not fill us with confidence and happiness. It only drives rifts between us and our loved ones and it only makes us miserable.
You don't get it, do you Reno.
Transpeople are not folks who wish they were the opposite sex. Transpeople ARE the opposite sex but they're stuck in the wrong body! How would you like being a man literally trapped in a woman's body or vice versa? Besides, aren't we just spirit beings stuck in meat-suits, anyway?
I wonder if much of the transphobia from frummers is the fact that a person born in the wrong body is an indication that "God makes mistakes"?
Bigots, Frums & Hyper-Conservatives just can't accept the fact that the very nature of everything is....CHANGE!
That "no" is something that is and should be dying out. Forcing people to be something they're not, whether the opposite end of a binary or into the binary itself, is not commendable in any way. It only spreads misery and pain, which the world is unfortunately full of already. Is the tiniest speck of empathy too much to ask for, R. R. Reno? Is it too much to ask that you should treat your fellow humans respect?
Someone needs to tell R. here, with effective authority, that he's a girl, and should deal with it. See if that works. If nothing else the results would be amusing.
Authority, huh? You mean yourself, of course... no conservative recognizes an authority higher than himself. And stop pretending you give a rancid rat's ass about transgendered people. It's insulting to be told we're too stupid to see through your self-serving lies.
Really? Because all of the transgendered individuals in my life seem much happier when people let them be who they are.
Trans Ex #1: Was happier when they could afford their hormones, and when people stopped trying to convince them to stop therapy.
Trans Roommate (Kinda Ex #2... it's a long story): Miserable when they can't act like themselves (for example, around their father), happier when they can.
Trans Friend #1: Miserable when they had a workplace that treated them like shit for being what they are. Happier as some of the physical alterations came to pass.
Trans Friend #2: Miserable when forced to act like they aren't (or have to buy bras). Happier when they get to be themselves.
I know 4 is hardly a viable sample size, but the pattern seems rather obvious.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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