(Short version: No obligatory link ties a particular set of body parts with a particular set of personality traits.)
I cannot claim to know firsthand the experiences of a transgender person, but I will attempt to do it justice. What we call “gender identity” describes a subjective sense of alignment with a set of traits that our culture tends to associate with a biological sex. Every culture assigns its own sets of expected roles, rights, privileges, and allowed emotional range to people of each biological sex, and at its core individualism begins by questioning the validity of those expectations. Just like the shoemaker’s son should not have his life options limited to shoemaking, a child born with lady parts should not have to perform only a nurturing, submissive role. But gender identity covers more than socially approved roles; it involves the way you present yourself to society, the language you choose to use, the clothes you feel comfortable with, the type of personal ties you prefer to establish, the virtues you embody. No obligatory link exists between a particular set of body parts and a particular set of personality traits. We also need to remember that gender identity does not necessarily follow a binary pattern; as intersex people exemplify, not even biological sex does. Evolution may have given us a very specific procedure for reproduction, but it says nothing about the way we should structure our society, and you cannot try to derive cultural norms from it without falling into an is-ought fallacy.
That all makes good sense, but to me it leaves two issues unexplained. The first is that for all the fluidity and conventionality claimed for the things summarised as “gender identity”, it is still treated as a package deal even by transgender people: you perform either the standard male package or the standard female package, however those are defined by the culture around you, with no more variation from that standard than cis people show. The very names “trans” and “cis” embody the practice. Meanwhile, some cis women just get on with being assertive, and some cis men bring up children themselves.
The second is that many (most? I don’t know) transgender people seek hormones or surgery to modify their bodies so as to more closely resemble, at least outwardly, the biology of their desired sex. Apparently, they desire not merely to perform that gender role, but to have that sex. Something more than gender roles is going on. That is also indicated by self-reports of gender dysphoria, where the sufferer experiences acute discomfort with the physical sensations of their own body’s sex.
modify their bodies so as to more closely resemble, at least outwardly, the biology of their desired sex
Not all have the same motivations. It depends on what you want your body to do. Some trans people care that others will treat them according to the image they present: it may be difficult for others to think of you as the man you feel you are if you lack the conventional signals (beard, voice, flat chest, etc.). For other trans people, erotic possibilities are the deciding factor: your body parts determine which sex acts are possible for you. Still other trans people may find that it’s more an issue of overall self-image. And some trans people may simply not mind any of these factors and decide not to have any surgery at all.
For both issues, a more general reply is that acknowledging the variety of possibilities of human sexual experience involves acknowledging further variation at the individual level.
Trans people engage in more variation than that, actually.
I nearly said something about the concept of genderqueer in my previous message, which would have been to the effect that it’s an alternative to the trans route rather than something that includes it.
Not all have the same motivations.
And yet “gender dysphoria” (which is the wrong name if gender is a conventional construct) isn’t on your list, but from what I’ve read and heard seems to be the primary motivation for reassignment surgery.
The general point I’m making is that dissatisfaction with conventional, socially constructed ideas of gender cannot explain the whole transgender phenomenon.
Indeed, just like only in soap-operas can male homosexuality be explained by bad experiences with women. There is evidence that brain structural differences play a big role in the appearance of varied sexual behaviors.
(Short version: No obligatory link ties a particular set of body parts with a particular set of personality traits.)
I cannot claim to know firsthand the experiences of a transgender person, but I will attempt to do it justice. What we call “gender identity” describes a subjective sense of alignment with a set of traits that our culture tends to associate with a biological sex. Every culture assigns its own sets of expected roles, rights, privileges, and allowed emotional range to people of each biological sex, and at its core individualism begins by questioning the validity of those expectations. Just like the shoemaker’s son should not have his life options limited to shoemaking, a child born with lady parts should not have to perform only a nurturing, submissive role. But gender identity covers more than socially approved roles; it involves the way you present yourself to society, the language you choose to use, the clothes you feel comfortable with, the type of personal ties you prefer to establish, the virtues you embody. No obligatory link exists between a particular set of body parts and a particular set of personality traits. We also need to remember that gender identity does not necessarily follow a binary pattern; as intersex people exemplify, not even biological sex does. Evolution may have given us a very specific procedure for reproduction, but it says nothing about the way we should structure our society, and you cannot try to derive cultural norms from it without falling into an is-ought fallacy.
That all makes good sense, but to me it leaves two issues unexplained. The first is that for all the fluidity and conventionality claimed for the things summarised as “gender identity”, it is still treated as a package deal even by transgender people: you perform either the standard male package or the standard female package, however those are defined by the culture around you, with no more variation from that standard than cis people show. The very names “trans” and “cis” embody the practice. Meanwhile, some cis women just get on with being assertive, and some cis men bring up children themselves.
The second is that many (most? I don’t know) transgender people seek hormones or surgery to modify their bodies so as to more closely resemble, at least outwardly, the biology of their desired sex. Apparently, they desire not merely to perform that gender role, but to have that sex. Something more than gender roles is going on. That is also indicated by self-reports of gender dysphoria, where the sufferer experiences acute discomfort with the physical sensations of their own body’s sex.
Trans people engage in more variation than that, actually.
Not all have the same motivations. It depends on what you want your body to do. Some trans people care that others will treat them according to the image they present: it may be difficult for others to think of you as the man you feel you are if you lack the conventional signals (beard, voice, flat chest, etc.). For other trans people, erotic possibilities are the deciding factor: your body parts determine which sex acts are possible for you. Still other trans people may find that it’s more an issue of overall self-image. And some trans people may simply not mind any of these factors and decide not to have any surgery at all.
For both issues, a more general reply is that acknowledging the variety of possibilities of human sexual experience involves acknowledging further variation at the individual level.
I nearly said something about the concept of genderqueer in my previous message, which would have been to the effect that it’s an alternative to the trans route rather than something that includes it.
And yet “gender dysphoria” (which is the wrong name if gender is a conventional construct) isn’t on your list, but from what I’ve read and heard seems to be the primary motivation for reassignment surgery.
The general point I’m making is that dissatisfaction with conventional, socially constructed ideas of gender cannot explain the whole transgender phenomenon.
Indeed, just like only in soap-operas can male homosexuality be explained by bad experiences with women. There is evidence that brain structural differences play a big role in the appearance of varied sexual behaviors.