I have zero problem with transgenderism as a phenomenon of people wishing to "perform" some other gender. My general rule is any thing that pisses off Southern Baptists is alright by me. My problem is the theoretical underpinning of gender identity theory that is thought to be necessary to explain it. I am happy to cosplay along with a man who feels more comfortable being regarded as a woman, that is, as an immersive fiction. We all have weird bullshit that makes us feel better. The problem is when one the parties who are tacitly agreeing "I am going to pretend I am a woman, and you are going to pretend not to notice I am not" breaks the contract and insists they are indeed a woman, and even female because they have a "gendered soul" that trumps biology in all areas. We engage in immersive fictions all the time - we all pretend free will exists when it can't, we pretend with religious people that prayer does something, etc. The whole concept of "feeling like a man/woman" is nonsense in the same way free will is nonsense. I am male, I am comfortable being male, but I have no damn idea what it "feels like" to be a man. I know what I feel like and that is all I can know (and even that is debatable). Introspection is a terrible way of knowing and I have no idea how it has become the ultimate way of knowing.
I have zero problem with transgenderism as a phenomenon of people wishing to "perform" some other gender. My general rule is any thing that pisses off Southern Baptists is alright by me. My problem is the theoretical underpinning of gender identity theory that is thought to be necessary to explain it. I am happy to cosplay along with a man who feels more comfortable being regarded as a woman, that is, as an immersive fiction. We all have weird bullshit that makes us feel better. The problem is when one the parties who are tacitly agreeing "I am going to pretend I am a woman, and you are going to pretend not to notice I am not" breaks the contract and insists they are indeed a woman, and even female because they have a "gendered soul" that trumps biology in all areas. We engage in immersive fictions all the time - we all pretend free will exists when it can't, we pretend with religious people that prayer does something, etc. The whole concept of "feeling like a man/woman" is nonsense in the same way free will is nonsense. I am male, I am comfortable being male, but I have no damn idea what it "feels like" to be a man. I know what I feel like and that is all I can know (and even that is debatable). Introspection is a terrible way of knowing and I have no idea how it has become the ultimate way of knowing.