Interesting thread, I've debated posting here.
I'm not an intolerant person at all, but I do have some major issues with the Trans movement.
I'll just jot down my comments in list form as it's quite wide ranging and incoherent.
1.) If we didn't live in the age we do where people can do all sorts of things to their bodies, for example you couldn't get a boob job or invert your dick, what would you do?
1A.) Without the ability to change your gender, without that option being possible or known at all, do you believe you would have still believed you should have been a woman, or do you think the lack of medical ability & social awareness might have just made you live a normal life as an effeminate male?
1B.) Still assuming you couldn't change your gender, do you believe you could have lived a happy life, or would you have been depressed, possibly suicidal?
2.) I think it's perfectly normal for people to be curious about the opposite sex, it's part of the attraction, I also believe this curiosity can run so amok that you have people strongly believing they should have been the opposite sex all along, that the opposite sex "has it better", or that they were born to be the opposite sex simply because their mannerisms and personality align better there.
3.) I also believe there are a ton of people seeking attention, and they'll do it by either choosing to be Trans, or choosing to be an apache attack helicopter, or simply want to be called a different pronoun so as to be distinguished from everyone else. With the focus on these Trans+ groups recently, more and more attention-getters are latching on. It's like they are joining a High School club. All of a sudden you have a "lost" person decide to join the "Trans" club. Instantly they can feel satisfaction knowing they now "belong" to a community.
3A.) The internet culture seems to aid this nicely as you can easily find other "group members" online, and now the people yearning to be accepted somewhere have an instant support group out of thin air.
3B.) As well as a political movement/group to rally with, etc. It's really tailor-made for the social outcasts.
4.) Subjugating kids and young adults to hormone blockers & the works is child abuse.
5.) Trans is a mental illness first and foremost.
6.) If someone is so mentally damaged that they choose to live life as the opposite sex, I really couldn't care less. Everyone should have the freedom to live the way they want. But please don't force your mental illness on the rest of the population. Trans bathrooms, healthcare, education, etc.
6A.) I have more respect for Adults who transition simply because at least they've had time to work through and diagnose their illness. I am repulsed by parents who let their kids do it, or even worse, force it upon their kids. The parents should be punished for child abuse, lose custody, be forced to seek help, etc.
6B.) If you really want to live life as the opposite sex, just do it. There shouldn't be a need to publicize it. I can understand where this might be a huge gray area, particularly for the "unpassable" trans people.
6C.) Lets be real here, if you LOOK male, you're a male. Use the mens room. For the sake of society and keeping everyone comfortable, just do it. Why do you really need to use the women's room? If you are a passable Female (or FTM), then use that restroom. Simple. The big issue I see are the "unpassable" trans people throwing up arms because they feel entitled to the "whatever gender bathroom they've declared themselves to be". Don't force your uncomfortable situation upon others.
6C.) If you get hated on or abused by someone for being trans, let local law enforcement and the courts handle it. As a human being you still have rights. There should be some common sense laws that handle most issues I think. We don't need special laws for every fringe group of people.
6D.) We don't need to "educate" people about every fringe group.
7.) The general population shouldn't be forced to provide funding or healthcare for every single mental illness/disease.
7A.) Even if we could, the healthcare that's chosen is likely not the one that's most desired to be prescribed by the general populace. For example, if I could choose how to treat a trans person, I'd start with therapy. Their choice would be plastic surgeons, hormone therapy, etc. Letting a person with a mental illness choose their own treatment seems like a bad idea to me.
7B.) Neither method is proven to "cure" the illness. Changing gender is no greater of a cure than simply trying to fix their brains.
8.) I'll admit that "trans" people are very interesting to me. Simply because "figuring out" people is very interesting. Also I'm a fan of "people watching". I am really curious what a typical day at work is like for a trans person. More specifically, the "beginning days" when you were still trying to figure out how to be the opposite sex. That first time entering the other bathroom. Or what that feeling was like when you first got your tits. Or what it feels like to chop off your dick. Things I'll never choose to experience myself, but BIG moments for a trans person to experience.
8A.) How peoples minds work always interests me and I always wonder how much of this is for attention, or due to social pressures/norms/awareness, or if in this one particular case, it actually is someone with a mental condition where they always saw themselves as the opposite gender.
9.) And lastly, to tag onto the conversation above. I agree that "being attracted" to Buck Angel or Blaire White doesn't make you gay. They are clearly convincing as Male/Female respectively. Attraction is more than genitalia. Personally I'm a butt/hips/thighs guy. I really doubt any MTF trans people would fit my desire simply because it's going to be near impossible for a male to replicate that part of the female anatomy. But I will contest that Blaire White and some others are still infinitely more attractive than a vast number of people born to that gender.
9A.) However, after finding out they still have a dick or vag.. or even if post-surgery and you finally discover they have the same chromosomal makeup as yourself, and if you're still attracted, then you're gay (by definition). But I don't consider gayness as a negative, love is love, so whatever. I'll just never understand it tbh.
9B.) Per my previous remark, my belief is that your sex is determined by your chromosomes and cannot be changed. A trans person can change their gender, but not their sex.
Vanessa
and
TJT
mentioned. I would argue there is also a psychological component; I prefer the way most men (stereotypically) think in addition to the physical characteristics.
Brad2770 has sex with a full on tranny (post surgery) without realizing that it's a tranny, thus making him gay.
