Too PC for me.

[Irreligious Atheist]

Apart from the trans debate, what is the difference between pretend and authentic? This matters in many parts of life not generally considered polical. In art for example known forgeries, no matter how well executed, rarely command the respect of originals. Putting a hood ornament on a chevy does not transform it into a real Benteley. Even as far back a Plato, the distinction between appearance and actual mattered. So it seems to me, whether or not someone who alters their appearance now truly qualifies as what they appear to be means first having a grip on the meaning of authenticity, etc.

Authentic would be one of the last words people would use for let's say the Kardashians, who are full of plastic and all got face lifts. I think most people know that trans people have not magically changed their DNA. Of course, some trans activists are trying to change the meaning of sex to just mean that you have the appearance or sexual characteristics of a bio woman, AKA breasts, etc, but this definition of sex is not yet widely accepted, I don't think, and hopefully won't be anytime soon.

For me, a cisgendered normie, I don't see myself as my body, really. My body is really just a vehicle for me to get around in and to help me get tasks accomplished. I see myself much more as my consciousness than I do as my body. I suspect trans people see things similarly. If they're born with a male's body but their brain feels a lot more on the feminine side, I just see that as a brain chemistry issue. This is what their brain is telling them, and this is how they experience consciousness, so this is where I think you can say they really are that gender. Are they factually that gender though? Well, gender is only a social construct, so you can say that they are not factually that gender, but this is their real, conscious experience based on the chemistry of their brain, so who am I to say that their conscious experience is 'wrong'? So, as far as I'm concerned, they are authentically being who they are, and that is the case whether we want to consider their new bodies authentic or not.