They're seeking approval because these people are often not getting the level of acceptance from the people around them in real life to meet their emotional needs.When the long discussion thread was in full swing with Glaive, Jerle and company, this is the sticking point I always hit with them. It wasn't enough to say, "You can do what you want, it's you're life. As long as everyone is a willing participant, it's cool." They wanted approval. Like, "It's great you've chose to live as the opposite gender and are into electro-shocking yourself for sexual pleasure. That's totally cool and normal." At which point they always lost me.
Regardless of our different views and consistent disagreement, I do feel bad for Jerle. It sounds like life got truly awful. RIP.
We could be nicer, but we're not going to.