Ben Shapiro vs Neil deGrasse Tyson: The WAR Over Transgender Issues

[Angrboda]

Do you believe that transgendered people determine their gender differently from the way cisgender people determine their gender, or the same way?

I'm not sure if this should be a preface or go after my answer - I don't believe cisgendered people determine their gender anymore than I believe transgendered individuals determine their gender; as we were taught in cultural anthropology gender is the series of expectations, roles, and ritualistic traditions that are expected from an individual based upon societal norms - while we can choose to break the norms we cannot redefine them, at least not as individuals.

I've not given it much thought from the individual perspective, but I would say that there are certain trends amongst the transgendered community - lower rates of educational achievement, higher rates of depression, sleep disorders, bipolar, etc - that would be prime suspects as to why their interpretation of what their role in society is differs from the rest of societies.

Then let me rephrase the question. Do you believe that a transgendered person who feels that the appropriate gender for them is at odds with their biological sex arrives at their intuitions as to which gender role is appropriate for them in the same way as cisgendered people determine which gender role feels appropriate to them? To put it in the words of your previous response, you used the word 'define' which can suggest that identifying as someone transgendered, as someone whose biological sex does not match their experienced gender and sex, that said person is engaged in making a willful choice, rather than, to put it one way, that one's inherent experience of themselves as gendered individuals is "thrust upon them" rather than something they actively construct. In short, what do you mean by the word define? It's possible to say that a homosexual person or a black person define themselves as homosexual or black, but that would seem to be a strained usage. Do transgendered individuals, and cisgendered individuals choose what role is appropriate to them, or are they simply recognizing something innate? In your opinion.