Are we completely sure Trans people don't just have a mental disorder?

by Lore 49 Replies latest jw friends

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  Lore

  So I thought I was a pretty accepting person. Sure I grew up in a bigoted cult who hates gay people.

  Now I'm an atheist who has no reason to care about anyones sexual prefferences.

  But I've watched inverviews of trans people. And they just seem to have a mental disorder to me.

  People with a functioning uterus and no capability to produce sperm, who insist on being called 'male'. Or Vice Versa, people who are quite clearly the males in the species who refer to themselves as women.

  Asking to be called males simply because they 'feel male'. What the heck does that even mean? I AM a male, and I don't even know what it means to 'feel male'.

  Isn't it possible that they really do have something wrong with them?

  In my mind it's like those people who cut off their own limbs because they 'felt wrong'. Should we encourage that? Should we support that? Should we ignore that? Or should we help them get treatment before they hurt themselves?

  If a guy goes to a docter and asks to have his perfectly normal hands cut off because he 'feels like he was meant to be born with no hands'. What sane doctor would perform that operation?
  But if a guy goes to a doctor and asks for breast implants and to have his penis removed because he 'feels like he was meant to be born a woman' under what circumstances is that NOT a mental disorder?

  Do I think Trans people should be forced to recieve treatment? NO.

  I'm asexual myself; I have no sex drive. But I have the common sense to realise that it's probably because of some kind of hormone imbalance, brain tumor, ball cancer or repressed sexuality from growing up in a mind controlling cult. It's quite likely a disorder or disease. Someday when I have decent health insurance I'm going to go to a doctor and make sure I don't have a deadly tumor or something.

  I would really rather not have it fixed unless absolutely neccesary though since it's a major part of my personality and I think I'm happier without a sex drive than I would be with one.

  But I do think that some trans people, maybe not all of them, have a serious medical problem. So how should I treat a trans person? I can't in good conscience go along with their insanity. It would be like telling a paranoid schizophrenic that I see the black helicoptors too.

  Before I can start refering to a guy with 5 o clock shadow as 'her', I need some pretty darn good arguments for why it's not just a mental disorder. Preferably arguments that don't also apply to BIID, or the 6 year old who says: "I'm a lion! RAWR" (No idiot, you're a human being crawing on your hands and knees.)
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  finally awake

  "maleness" and "femaleness" are social constructs that rarely fit individuals precisely. For instance, I am clearly a genetic female, having given birth 3 times and having none of the male gentalia. But in terms of personality, I "feel" more like what I imagine a male feels like. Of course, I don't really know what any other person thinks or feels inside their own head. But the typical female sterotypes don't really fit me in my own opinion. I have no desire to present myself as male, but someone who feels more strongly than I do that they fit the social construct of the opposite gender may feel more compulsion to be publicly identified that way. If it is a mental disorder, then I think it is caused by overly narrow gender stereotypes that do not allow for the natural variation of human personalities. Much like "hysteria" back in Victorian times - a disorder caused by the refusal of polite society to acknowledge that women need sexual satisfaction too.
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  Chemical Emotions

  I don't really know anything about transexuality., so I can't offer any firm opinions, but I really like finally awake's post. That's all I can say at the moment. I'm looking forward to more comments though.
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  NewChapter

  I don't know Lore, but I do know that our genetic makeup is more than genetalia. So many things must come together and hormones also play a role. Gender is a social construct, whereas sex is physical. In many cultures, there is a third gender, a man who dresses as a female, and sometimes a 4th gender, women who dress like men. These cultures often held these individuals as special and they often worked as shaman or people particularly connected to the spirit realm. When Europeans came to America, they found this, but the details are lost because they didn't have the proper language or even understanding of it to keep good records. These people seem to be happier when they have surgery. They are not disabled, and live full lives. I'd go with that---the outcome. Cutting off someone's hands is different. I'm having trouble with formatting, so forgive the long paragraph.-------------------------------I hope you can go to a doctor soon. I feel so bad that you may need one, but can't get things checked out. I can't imagine worrying about tumors and such without a way to get answers. And if all you need is to be told you have nothing life threatening wrong with you, and you choose not to seek other treatment, then that is your perogative.
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  lisaBObeesa

  Gender identity disorder

  Research has been done on the shape of the corpus callosum in those with gender identity disorder. Researchers were able to demonstrate that the shape dimorphism of the corpus callosum at birth in biological males who self-identified as female was actually reversed, and that the same held true for biological females who self-identified as male. The publishers of this article argued that the shape of the corpus callosum defined the mental sex of individuals over their physical sex. [20]

  The relationship between the corpus callosum and gender remains an active subject of debate in the scientific and lay community
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  Chemical Emotions

  Gender is a social construct, whereas sex is physical.

  Just wanted to point out that part of NC's post.

  Carry on...
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  lisaBObeesa

  The only 'treatment' for gender identity disorder is the person transitioning to living as the gender they feel they are.

  Gender is a social construct, whereas sex is physical.

  There is a lot of evidence that gender is at least partly biological as well as a social construct.
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  Anony Mous

  There is still too much unknown and too much research going on about hormonal effects, identity, sexuality, sociology and our brain (my work crosses some of those fields) to say anything for sure but most of us have some type of "disorder", so much so that it's becoming ever harder to tell what is a disorder (deviating from an ever changing standard) and what is not let alone fix it.

  The fact that there are a significant number of transsexuals as well as various gradations (pansexuals for example) shows that it's not necessarily a disorder but more likely just another life form. The fact that there is homosexuality and transsexuality even among our neighbors (apes) means that it's probably not an external factor (such as the way you were raised etc.)
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  baltar447

  I have genderqueer friends. I don't get it myself. But I accept them as friends because they are good people. You probably couldn't tell that they identify with both genders. I stay out of their personal lives. They don't seem to be "mentally damamged" at all. So your stereotyping isn't fair or valid. I care for them as great friends and that's all that matters.
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  mrsjones5

  " So how should I treat a trans person?"

  If you care about them you treat them the way they present themselves and want to be treated. It's that simple.