Transgender activism always includes a push for a ban on ‘conversion therapy’, a ban on ‘hate speech’ & medical treatment essentially on the basis of self-diagnosis. Conversion therapy is so that therapists may not discuss someone's story of their gender in neutral terms, exploring possible experiences that may or may not lead to trans identification, in case the client complains an attempt was made to suggest they might not be trans. ‘Hate speech’ means that any discussion of a pathway for gender questioning people other than affirmation & rapid medical treatment can be reported by activists & acted on by authorities. Medical treatment is likely to ‘fix’ a person's trans identity as their body will start changing & they will need to ‘come out’ publicly. These measures means a higher percentage of gender questioning people than otherwise will come to identify as trans, which presumably the activists believe is best for them.
Thanks for pointing out that transgender rights are unidirectional; that's a useful concept. I would suggest that the origin of gender identity in the UK public's consciousness was the obscenity trial for The Well of Loneliness, rather than John Money's experiments. Also that the counterpart to lived experience is mediated experience, those events which we do not experience directly but via communications technology.
Nice summary. There's no single category that all trans people will fall into. But the core of all of it is a certain narcissistic fabulism. And when psychopaths are granted special, often autoerotic rights, that is a curse on society. Here's what I hope is a helpful breakdown. https://empathy.guru/2024/01/21/transgenderism-and-its-context-in-society/
Fabulism isn't necessarily the defining feature. There are plenty of magical thinkers among ordinary people, and some down-to-earth transgender people who don't believe in magic, including those who have lived through the reality check of medical and surgical transition.
Saw you followed me on my Substack -- I really ought to get that going. But for now, there's ~ 300 posts on my blog, empathy.guru, including a lot on current issues. I write on the Deep How people know things. It's really about epistemology. And the Matrix. The good news is that if you learn that stuff, you can almost read minds. You can guess what the bad news is.
A better term might be 'narcissistic fabulism'. It is wildly solipsistic. And if you want someone to remove your penis, well, you gotta believe in magic.
I have yet to meet a transgender person who believes that surgery will magically transform them into the opposite sex. The justifications I have heard for genital surgery include:
1. I was always the opposite sex, these genitals are not mine and I want them gone.
2. My genitals are making me really unhappy, I would be better off without them.
3. I have committed to gender transition, and if I don't have my genitals removed I'll be letting everyone down.
The magical thinking tends to be more along the lines of "once I go through with the surgery, other people will see me as I am/as I want to be seen."
Transgender activism always includes a push for a ban on ‘conversion therapy’, a ban on ‘hate speech’ & medical treatment essentially on the basis of self-diagnosis. Conversion therapy is so that therapists may not discuss someone's story of their gender in neutral terms, exploring possible experiences that may or may not lead to trans identification, in case the client complains an attempt was made to suggest they might not be trans. ‘Hate speech’ means that any discussion of a pathway for gender questioning people other than affirmation & rapid medical treatment can be reported by activists & acted on by authorities. Medical treatment is likely to ‘fix’ a person's trans identity as their body will start changing & they will need to ‘come out’ publicly. These measures means a higher percentage of gender questioning people than otherwise will come to identify as trans, which presumably the activists believe is best for them.
Thanks for pointing out that transgender rights are unidirectional; that's a useful concept. I would suggest that the origin of gender identity in the UK public's consciousness was the obscenity trial for The Well of Loneliness, rather than John Money's experiments. Also that the counterpart to lived experience is mediated experience, those events which we do not experience directly but via communications technology.
Nice summary. There's no single category that all trans people will fall into. But the core of all of it is a certain narcissistic fabulism. And when psychopaths are granted special, often autoerotic rights, that is a curse on society. Here's what I hope is a helpful breakdown. https://empathy.guru/2024/01/21/transgenderism-and-its-context-in-society/
Fabulism isn't necessarily the defining feature. There are plenty of magical thinkers among ordinary people, and some down-to-earth transgender people who don't believe in magic, including those who have lived through the reality check of medical and surgical transition.
Saw you followed me on my Substack -- I really ought to get that going. But for now, there's ~ 300 posts on my blog, empathy.guru, including a lot on current issues. I write on the Deep How people know things. It's really about epistemology. And the Matrix. The good news is that if you learn that stuff, you can almost read minds. You can guess what the bad news is.
A better term might be 'narcissistic fabulism'. It is wildly solipsistic. And if you want someone to remove your penis, well, you gotta believe in magic.
I have yet to meet a transgender person who believes that surgery will magically transform them into the opposite sex. The justifications I have heard for genital surgery include:
1. I was always the opposite sex, these genitals are not mine and I want them gone.
2. My genitals are making me really unhappy, I would be better off without them.
3. I have committed to gender transition, and if I don't have my genitals removed I'll be letting everyone down.
The magical thinking tends to be more along the lines of "once I go through with the surgery, other people will see me as I am/as I want to be seen."