How Do You Respond to Transphobic Arguments?/I'm back!

[sven]

As a cisgender woman who barely knew only one transgender person in my life, I don't run into transphobia that much. But when I do, I never know what to say in defense of them

Today, in particular, I got into a heated discussion about this with my boyfriend. While he does fully support gay/lesbian/bisexual rights, he believes that transgender people are sick in the head. He kept saying things like, "I can go around believing I'm a dinosaur, but that doesn't make me a dinosaur." and "There's surgery to make me look like a gorilla, but that won't make me a gorilla." I knew it was kind of idiotic to compare this to something entirely different, but I didn't know what to say. Whenever I tried to, he just accused me of basing my arguments on emotion. My argument was "If the person was born male but identifies as female, or vice versa, I think other people should respect that." He doesn't think so. He thinks that people only do that because they're afraid of being offensive. And he's basing most of this on a costumer he had who got offended when he called her "sir".

The thing is, I've seen these arguments all over the internet, but I never actually thought anyone I knew believed them. Basically, this is the first time I've ever had a debate like this in person (and, when I ran out of things to say, I just passive-aggressively said, "Fine." Typical ). I'm asking those of you who run into this sort of thing everyday, or at least more often than I do. What do you usually say? Have you ever convinced someone that they may just be wrong when it comes to transgender issues? I'm not looking for a quick fix, by the way. I just want something compelling. Something that will at least make people like my boyfriend think, or rethink, if you will.

Side note: I haven't been around because I've been so busy with school (I needed to get my grades up). But I'll be posting more often from now on. So, in case anyone remembers me, and missed me, HI!!!

Tell your boyfriend not to use South park as a source of arguments!

[Diamond]

As a cisgender woman who barely knew only one transgender person in my life, I don't run into transphobia that much. But when I do, I never know what to say in defense of them

Today, in particular, I got into a heated discussion about this with my boyfriend. While he does fully support gay/lesbian/bisexual rights, he believes that transgender people are sick in the head. He kept saying things like, "I can go around believing I'm a dinosaur, but that doesn't make me a dinosaur." and "There's surgery to make me look like a gorilla, but that won't make me a gorilla." I knew it was kind of idiotic to compare this to something entirely different, but I didn't know what to say. Whenever I tried to, he just accused me of basing my arguments on emotion. My argument was "If the person was born male but identifies as female, or vice versa, I think other people should respect that." He doesn't think so. He thinks that people only do that because they're afraid of being offensive. And he's basing most of this on a costumer he had who got offended when he called her "sir".

The thing is, I've seen these arguments all over the internet, but I never actually thought anyone I knew believed them. Basically, this is the first time I've ever had a debate like this in person (and, when I ran out of things to say, I just passive-aggressively said, "Fine." Typical ). I'm asking those of you who run into this sort of thing everyday, or at least more often than I do. What do you usually say? Have you ever convinced someone that they may just be wrong when it comes to transgender issues? I'm not looking for a quick fix, by the way. I just want something compelling. Something that will at least make people like my boyfriend think, or rethink, if you will.

Side note: I haven't been around because I've been so busy with school (I needed to get my grades up). But I'll be posting more often from now on. So, in case anyone remembers me, and missed me, HI!!!

Tell your boyfriend not to use South park as a source of arguments!

He does love his South Park, especially the older episodes. I watch it, too, but I never used it as a source (unless, of course, they use a joke to make a point. It is satire, after all).

[sven]

Tell your boyfriend not to use South park as a source of arguments!

He does love his South Park, especially the older episodes. I watch it, too, but I never used it as a source (unless, of course, they use a joke to make a point. It is satire, after all).

But you have seen that episode, right?

[Diamond]

He does love his South Park, especially the older episodes. I watch it, too, but I never used it as a source (unless, of course, they use a joke to make a point. It is satire, after all).

But you have seen that episode, right?

As with most South Park episodes, either I haven't or I have and I don't remember.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

Now I know the icon for this thread is a RAINBOW!

I am a lesbian.

OMG I FUCKING LOVE RAINBOWS THIS IS SO GREAT!

[max-greece]

Cisgender. Had to look it up. One new word a day. Making slow but steady progress.

Turns out - I'm cisgender too and never knew it.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

Cisgender. Had to look it up. One new word a day. Making slow but steady progress.

Turns out - I'm cisgender too and never knew it.

OMG! Now you know so much more about what is offensive to people who are "trans"!

What is offensive to people who are "trans"

Most people are cisgender. Most people don't know it. They still say "trans" like it's a disease.

[Aractus]

As a cisgender woman who barely knew only one transgender person in my life, I don't run into transphobia that much.

My goodness, I can't believe the extreme level of PC you've gone to.

The medical condition suffered by individuals who become transgender is gender dysphoria. In most of the world doctors will not perform gender reassignment surgery on someone not diagnosed with this disorder.

The idea that transsexualism is normal is wrong - it isn't, it's caused by a psychological disorder. It is in fact a form of treatment for the symptom of the illness. This would be why your boyfriend is essentially right in saying that "it's all in their head" it is, but it's also a mental illness and like many others it requires medical treatment as well as our understanding.

Now let's ask an important question: is hormone replacement therapy the right course of action for people why suffer from gender dysphoria (well more specifically gender identity disorder)? At present it's used due to the fact it seems to be the only medical option for some patients, however it's important to remember that the theory that some people have a "brain gender" that differs from their biological gender is far from settles, and like in all science needs to be challenged as much as possible so we can develop better medical science and better ways for treating patients with mental disorders.

So what I'm saying is not that transgender people are bad people, nor am I saying that they choose their treatment option - it's in fact prescribed to them by physicians, but what I am saying is that your argument that "if someone identifies this way others need to respect that" is not how it works at all. That's like saying if I identify myself as aboriginal you have to respect me as being a traditional land owner - you'd have every right to point out to me there's not a drop of aboriginal blood in my DNA, and in the same way a person with a normal set of chromosomes has a definite biological gender, and the fact they identify with the opposite one doesn't negate that fact.

[No_God]

Cisgender, transgender, no gender, air bender, whatever.

[tor]

I love all the people no matter what they are but I am not sure if transgenderism is not a sickness. It can be something in their brain causing them to feel like they got the wrong body but I still count it as anomaly. I am not afraid of em and I treat em like every other human but I still don't think it's normal in any way.
They deserve happiness like anyone else but so are people who are born without legs and I don't think being born with no legs is normal.