Poorly constructed public narratives, though, make for bad policy and bad culture.
Do they, though? I’m honestly not too worried about this. That’s one reason I mentioned “born this way”. Of course, I think even just going by self reports “internal sense of gender” is a reasonable first approximation with wide coverage, I think the current policy and cultural agendas for trans rights are pretty much the right ones, and I think that’s true pretty much regardless of “underlying truth of the phenomenon”.
“My body, my choice” has already been thoroughly absorbed by the abortion debate, but a similar approach encapsulating the essence of morphological freedom is an easy case to make and a hard one to reject.
You’d think so! But people are really weird about sex, and I think it’s going to be a tough fight without addressing that head on. Also, related to Ben Smith’s comment, the political/medical aspects are generally more material.
Regarding
The idea of gender as an essence separate to sex, intrinsic to all, is a much steeper request, one that demands people realign their view of what is rather than what ought to be. If they cannot or will not realign that view, whatever their perspective on morphological freedom, they are placed in the role of Enemy Of The Cause.
and
to assert it becomes a threat and to examine its implications or propose it as a basis for policy is to all but declare war on the most vocal progressive trans activists.
This seems hyperbolic? Both in terms of the hostility and the “demand” to accept truth claims. I’m sure you can get that reaction from some people, but they don’t speak for everyone; and you only have to live in a society with the most combative activists, not make them think you’re a good person. Outside of prominent Twitter figures and what gets amplified in certain media circles, people tend to be willing enough to talk in good faith and accept you as an ally of convenience if you’re respectful. They’re just (understandably!) wary. (Edit: This is just my perspective. I don’t speak for anyone else—I just don’t see this kind of melodrama on everyday scales.)
a consistent approach as I wrestle with phenomena like trans-species identity that seem closely connected
I wouldn’t expect any underlying consistency here. Honestly, I think “underlying truth of [transgender identity]” already presupposes too much consistency and leads to bad predictions.
Do they, though? I’m honestly not too worried about this. That’s one reason I mentioned “born this way”. Of course, I think even just going by self reports “internal sense of gender” is a reasonable first approximation with wide coverage, I think the current policy and cultural agendas for trans rights are pretty much the right ones, and I think that’s true pretty much regardless of “underlying truth of the phenomenon”.
You’d think so! But people are really weird about sex, and I think it’s going to be a tough fight without addressing that head on. Also, related to Ben Smith’s comment, the political/medical aspects are generally more material.
Regarding
and
This seems hyperbolic? Both in terms of the hostility and the “demand” to accept truth claims. I’m sure you can get that reaction from some people, but they don’t speak for everyone; and you only have to live in a society with the most combative activists, not make them think you’re a good person. Outside of prominent Twitter figures and what gets amplified in certain media circles, people tend to be willing enough to talk in good faith and accept you as an ally of convenience if you’re respectful. They’re just (understandably!) wary. (Edit: This is just my perspective. I don’t speak for anyone else—I just don’t see this kind of melodrama on everyday scales.)
I wouldn’t expect any underlying consistency here. Honestly, I think “underlying truth of [transgender identity]” already presupposes too much consistency and leads to bad predictions.