Well, I heard some people talk about it, and decided to bring it into the forums. Well, I think that becoming transgender is just not right. God gives you one body it is just not right to change your gender. What do you people think?
Why does something need to be accepted by society to be permissable?
Dunno. I never said so.
(Guessing you meant 'accept', not except.)
How- how can this be? I guess I'll commit seppuku then.
Interesting note: People are always quick to say that homosexuality isn't a choice, but they are equally quick to defend someone's decision to be transsexual.
I'm not entirely sure how "true gender" can be defined, though.
Semantics time!
Here, by true gender, I mean the gender a person is. That is, is a transsexual a man or a woman? This leads to:
Is there a difference between biological sex and mental sex? Can someone be born, say, male and truly be female, even though his or her body is (or was) male? Is transsexuality an inborn condition (I don't care if condition is the proper term: We already had that argument a few pages ago) or is it developed over time?
...Is there a difference between transsexual and transgender? I prefer to use the former because it's parallel with bisexual in the LGBT acronym.
Those are some questions to send this thread off in style (at the very least). I'll see what everyone has to say in a day or two. Until then, I've got to take care of this wakizashi lodged in my gut.
Born as and think of themselves as. If they truly believe they're male/female, then they're not really acting, are they?
Not what I meant. What they're physically born as, and what they behave like. (Last I checked act was a synonym for behave?) Also not the point of what I was saying, since it went on what others perceive and not how they think of themselves.
And then you have to take into account hermaphrodites. Or whatever the correct term is. Gender just isn't black and white, in terms of both the mind and the body.
Never claimed it was. Do sort of object to the use of the gender binary thing that most people take for given.
Interesting note: People are always quick to say that homosexuality isn't a choice, but they are equally quick to defend someone's decision to be transsexual.
Nah, it's a feeling. Like with homosexuality, I do believe the only choice in the matter is whether or not you act on it, and to what degree.
Is there a difference between biological sex and mental sex?
Yes, but not for everyone.
Can someone be born, say, male and truly be female, even though his or her body is (or was) male?
Depending on how you mean "truly be"... In my opinion, yes for the psychological part, no for the physiological.
...Is there a difference between transsexual and transgender?
"Transgender: (adjective) identified with a gender other than the biological one"
"Transsexual: (noun) a person born with the physical characteristics of one sex who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex. a person who has undergone surgery and hormone treatment in order to acquire the physical characteristics of the opposite sex"
Seems like the -sexual one covers the -gender one, but not the other way around?
How- how can this be? I guess I'll commit seppuku then.
Considering how rarely you make errors like that, I shall proceed to go laugh my proverbial arse off.
but they are equally quick to defend someone's decision to be transsexual.
This is because it is increasingly accepted that the term "orientation" refers to predisposed behaviours, whereas transgender and transsexuality are currently more abstract: both those involve identification with an archetype whereas sexual orientation does not necessitate this. Therefore one has to make the decision to articulate their transsexuality, even if they do not view it as such.
The way I've framed the above paragraph, however, does imply that there is a great deal of semantics in transsexuality that applied to sexual orientation, so the question would be whether this view remains prevalent or the rhetoric will go the same way. IMHO, I would lean towards the latter: that there is a certain sense of intrinsic predisposition in a person to identify to different degrees with sex/gender. This is in keeping with the current diagnostic criteria for transsexualism in the event a person wishes to undergo a sex-change operation: they must be able to document that they feel uncomfortable as their current sex for at least two years as evidence that this is not due to a temporary or psychosocially triggered change. While it's hardly a perfect measure, it does tell you something about what medicine currently believes.
Is there a difference between biological sex and mental sex?
This probably requires experiential knowledge to discern for any individual.
Not everyone believes in your God. In fact, most people reject to the idea of there being one.
If they don't like the body they are in, more power to them!
The problem isn't them, its everyone else. What does that one person being gay, lesbian, transvestite, transgendered, have to deal with you and your personal life? Does their existence completely bother you to the point you wish them gone?
Perhaps you should revisit your God's Teachings and realize that you are to accept people as they are for who they are, for they are Children of God and in his eyes are fine just the way they are. No event on earth will change your rewards in heaven so long as you believe in His teachings and live according to His law....
... and then get over it and move on with your life, because the more time you sit there and wonder why they are like that, the more time you waste being who you are, doing your own thing.
I look to become a pro-gay leader on these forums, so I feel that I should speak on this subject. There is nothing wrong with changing your gender. Saying there is something wrong with it is like saying make-up is a sin.
