Transexuals

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Oh, don't worry about me.

See, I'm not like a lot of transsexuals.  I actually want my ideas, my thoughts, to be disagreed with.  I want to be challenged.  I want people to disagree with me.  If my ideas are valid, they'll stand up to criticism.  If they don't, then I need to rethink things; at very least, I need to better understand what I believe.  But what I don't want is for people to listen to me and believe me just because I'm transsexual; I want people to listen to me because I'm right, and when I'm not, I want people to correct me so that I can be right later on.  I certainly don't want to be a recreation of 'The Emperor's New Clothes.'

So, when people question the validity of transsexuality, I can respond.  I'll be the first to admit, personal experience and personal feelings are hard to put into scientific data, but when your experience is the same as countless other people's experiences that have been documented by multiple psychologists, sociologists and other researchers, it's worth paying attention to.

I never thought of it any other way! After all, this is Atheist Forums, not Trans Forums. We need not agree, and should not agree, unless our points are validly argued and demonstrable. I was simply trying to say we don't expect you to be some kind of spokesperson because I'm aware (from LISTENING to my minority friends/acquaintances) that too often a member of a minority is asked to be The Spokesperson For Everyone In That Minority™, like the old cliché about the History professor singling out the one black kid in the classroom and saying, "James, what do you think about the Jim Crow Era?", as if they're required to have the definitive opinion and deep understanding of the subject because of their skin color, with which they can enlighten everyone else, instead of just being like every other kid in that classroom. I wish to avoid that error.

I kind of think of a hierarchy of details-about-self, upon which "trans" or "cis" would be waaaaaaaaaaaay down the list of descriptors for a person, right amid others: "... and educated...and tall... and thin... and curly haired... and cisgendered... and brown-eyed... and liberal... and an ex-convict... and straight... and an atheist... and a fan of 80's Hair Band rock..." et cetera.

On the other hand, you may well understand things I have misrepresented despite my best attempts to do so, so if you see something I have failed to address properly (or so you think, whatever), then rip it to shreds. I shall attempt to do the same with any errors in thinking/logic/facts I see you present. That's what makes being a skeptic such a great thing... as I've written many times before, ripping up my errors/delusions/illusions is the kindest thing you can do for me.



Edit to Add: It just dawned on me that a combination of growing up listening to bands like Queen and Erasure and Twisted Sister, in the 80s, combined with my love of Hair Band rock in general, may have made it much easier for me to accept trans culture... there is exactly zero shocking to me about the trans world! Hehe.