I'm probably more known for amplifying and sharing news stories. It is a lot easier to do so than to delve into the theory of gender. But every once in awhile, immersion into theory seems to be necessary.
So where did this start?
I got involved in a side discussion that started on Sunday in the diary, NO HEATHENS SERVED: "BECAUSE WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU."
I wish I could say that the discussion involved a Republican troll. But the truth is that not everyone who opposes the existence and fair treatment of transpeople is Republican. Some are even members here.
Commenter A:
"There is a special place in hell for women who do
not help other women." -- Madeleine K. Albright.
And it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of genital configuration.
Unless, of course, and despite the neutrality of the law, the bigot is female.
I didn't notice this comment right off. I do however take issue with it. It is
not illegal to discriminate on the basis of genital configuration. Ask any transgender person.
The diarist responded:
I don't follow. n/t
Are you insinuating I'm a bigot? Or are you referring to Albright's bigotry? Are you saying that the quote I choose to display is somehow bigoted? Or is the quote somehow negated and less true because Albright said it? And how the hell did my genitals get involved?
~Sigh. Nevermind. I think I'd rather your comment remain a mystery.
My comment is quite plain.
Under the law, as noted, which is neutral, males are prohibited discriminating against females on the basis of sex/genital configuration.
But under the same law, which is neutral, females are (self-)authorized to ignore the neutrality of the law and exclude non-females based upon sex/genital configuration.
There is an instance of a man being excluded from a health club near his home because designated by itself "female only".
"Male only" health clubs are prohibited.
He sued against the obvious sex discrimination. He not only lost, but the anti-sex discrimination "feminist" faction successfully lobbied the state legislature to amend the statute to add a female-only exemption from the law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex/genital configuration.
How did "your" genitals "get involved"? Assuming you have such, they are either female or male. One determines the sex of an individual by genital configuration.
Discrimination on the basis of sex/genital configuration is prohibited by law. Unless, of course, as I pointed out, one is female: the cited law protects females from being subjected to discrimination based upon sex/genital configuration, but need not comply with that prohibition themselves.
As a human rights activist I would correct Albright, and those who affirm her bigotry:
There is a special place in hell for humans who do not help other humans.
That's where I first felt the need to respond:
Have you ever heard of intersex people?
Assuming you have such, they are either female or male.
Commenter B: had another problem with Commenter A.
Oh my. Way, way off.
>One determines the sex of an individual by genital configuration.
The evidence from dissecting transgender people's brains and from listening to intersex people raised as the wrong gender is that identity is determined by the three-pound gray organ up top.
Running around with the assumption I quoted puts you at risk for mistreating trans* people.
I take no position on any "cause" of transgender" so I did not reply to this. I also like to draw a distinction between sex and gender.
But Commenter B's prophesy at the end proved to be on point.
Commenter A responded.
You are speaking of gender, not sex.
Psychosexual identity -- and there isn't any such physical "grey matter" evidence of it -- is defined as gender identify. See Nancy Chodorow.
Sexual identify is determined by anatomy: genital configuration.
The laws prohibiting discrimination on those bases recognize the differences.
Now go back and read my critical statement, instead of looking for nonsensical rationalizations around the law in defense of unacceptable -- and prohibited -- discrimination based upon sex/genital configuration.
"identify" = "identity" n/t
The original quote from Albright said women. Neither that, nor the law as addressed, nor my comment had anything whatever to do with sex role confusion/"transgender".
First:
Chodorow is not the last word in gender. Nor does Chodorow assert what you are citing her for.
In addition Chodorow argues that, although psychoanalysis is primarily concerned with very early events in a child's development, these are not wholly deterministic of one's life course and indeed the aim of psychoanalysis as a therapy is to aid individuals in developing beyond these limitations stemming from childhood.
--Jim Forsyth Harris, A comparison evaluation and synthesis of Butler and Chodorow's theories of Gender
And then there is the dependent comment: That is where I became offended.
Do you in fact think transgender is...
..."sex role confusion"? We transgender people are not confused about who we are.
Commenter A doubled down:
Yes. I do. Nor is there any evidence -- though
asserted -- that it is physically determined in the brain.
Let's be clear: there is neurosis. Not everything is "healthy" or normal.
Instead of limiting your "study" to reading only that which supports your hypothetical, try studies that are open to more than self-validation.
Please note first of all that it was not I who posited that gender was "physically determined by the brain." I don't, as I have said repeatedly, know or care what causes transgender. I am only concerned with how a person lives with it and through it and assert that it is a valid way of living and deserves to be acknowledged as such.
My response:
I don't limit myself to studies.
I live my life. You assert I am confused. I assure you I am not.
How do you prove someone is confused, dude?
I am 66 years old, retiring after a 38 year career as a college professor. I have a Ph. D. in Mathematics and am one of the most intelligent people you would ever meet.
Twenty-two years ago I began my transition from male to female, leading to me undergoing sex reassignment surgery 20 years ago. I have been invited to lecture on the subject of gender-variance on college campuses to both groups of potential psychologists and to medical students.
How is it you know more about what it is to be transgender than I?
Commenter A denies transgender people the agency to be fully human. He classifies us all as neurotic.
I do not, to be sure, claim that being gender-variant is "normal". I have no desire to be normal whatsoever. I have always strived, rather, to be exceptional. More often that not, I have succeeded.
I do claim that I am healthy. Now. There was a period of time in which I was not mentally healthy. I dealt with that. I am much better now. I do not recommend the path I took to grasping control of my mental health to anyone else. But it is apparent that I have not walked a pristine road. Many of us find a similar path. And we will ferociously deny that in rescuing ourselves from sure disaster that we have become defective human beings.
Transgender lives are livable because transgender lives are lived.
When transgender people have mental health problems, it is generally because of the way we have been mistreated by society. and its members.
Further reading: Bullied, ridiculed, ignored, Asia transgenders step up for their rights
Women in same-sex relationships or transgender people who suffer violence or abuse found they had little recourse to justice.
Victims of violence were disadvantaged even before they could seek redress … due to the risk of being criminalised by the state, stigmatised by society, vilified by religious groups, and rejected by family when their identities or explanations of the violence were revealed.
The state must ensure a supportive environment for all women’s rights, not merely the rights of some women.
--VIOLENCE: Through the Lens of lesbians and bisexual women and trans people in Asia
Ban Ki-Moon: It is everyone's responsibility to speak out
As Secretary-General of the UN, I believe in and strive to achieve the world promised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a world rooted in tolerance, freedom and equality; a world where we are ALL free to live a life of dignity.
There are no exceptions. Human rights are for everyone, no matter who you are or whom you love.
--Ban Ki-Moon
