I appreciate your attempt to try to promote a balanced point of view in approaching the proper way to discuss divisive political and social issues. However, it is clear that from the overall tone of your article, you believe that gender dysphoria is a kind of rebelliousness that you equate to punk rock from the 70s and 80s. You seem to think it is a choice. The problem is that there is no equivalency; there’s a huge difference. Your conclusion is actually part of the problem because it shows an ignorance of the nature of being transgender.
Being transgender is neither a choice nor a mental illness. It is not a rebellious lifestyle. It is not an attempt to try to reinvent societal norms. People who have gender dysphoria have brains that are hardwired to match the gender with which they identify rather than the one that one might assume them to be upon external inspection of anatomy. There is increasing evidence that anatomically and functionally, trans women have women’s brains and vice versa for trans men. One can no more be made trans than one can be made gay. One can no more be converted out of thinking they are trans then a gay person can be talked out of their same-sex attraction. Neither are contagious. Neither can be caused by social pressure. Impressionable young people cannot be groomed into being gay or trans. They either are or aren’t. Being trans is a fundamental part of identity, of being. As a transwoman, it is as immutable as my height or the color of my eyes.
To suggest that we can tell the difference between a man and a woman by examining their bodies is not only inaccurate, it is to deny the very existence of trans people. It is not a matter of opinion. Trans women are women because they have the brains of women. Trans men are men because they have the brains of men. External anatomy does not negate this. It is not a matter of opinion and society needs to wake up and accept the reality of who we are. You do as well.
To suggest that it is not reasonable for trans people to expect that society’s use of pronouns and attitudes towards social conventions need to change is incorrect and dangerous. Society absolutely does need to change and use the correct language because it reflects the reality of the existence of trans people and their right to equal participation and benefits in society. The broader awareness of the trans community may be new, but we have always been here. We have just become more visible because of greater social acceptance and awareness in some quarters and rapid advances in the understanding of transgender people by the medical and scientific communities.
30 years ago many mental health professionals considered being gay a psychological pathology which could be cured through conversion therapy or appropriate mental health modalities. It was about that time they began to understand that there was actually nothing wrong with gay people. It was part of their fundamental identity. It was the way their brains are wired. It has taken about an additional 20 years, but now the medical and scientific communities have reached the same conclusion with regard to transgender people. We also are not mentally ill. We are hardwired to be transgender. We cannot be converted or cured.
Equating the rebelliousness of young people who found meaning in the embracing of punk rock in the late 70s and early 80s with the current visibility of trans people is a false equivalency. The popularity of punk rock was a fad, a trend, a choice, a way of expressing independence and rebelliousness . Being trans is none of these. It is a fundamental immutable characteristic of a small portion of society and needs to be respected as such. Demanding equal rights and visibility is not unreasonable, and it is society that needs to change. It is not a matter of opinion or preference.
