One of the mysteries in all this is that sex roles are getting somewhat softened and blurred. How much would transexuality mean if the sex roles aren’t there?
One of the mysteries in all this is that sex roles are getting somewhat softened and blurred. How much would transexuality mean if the sex roles aren’t there?
My experience is that transsexuals have an uneasy existence in genderqueer communities because they tend to have a very solid, traditional gender identity that’s just mismatched with their biological sex. And so when a theorist argues that gender is just a social construction that can mean whatever we want it to mean, the transsexuals all cough nervously.
That is to say, enough of the sex roles is biological that I don’t think whatever makes transsexuals dislike their bodies pre-transition will go away as social pressure to conform diminishes.
Transvestism is usually framed as wanting to dress like a member of the other sex. However, there’s no such thing as dressing like a woman or dressing like a man. There’s only dressing like a particular time and place’s idea of a man or a woman.
I assume there’s imprinting involved, but as I said, I don’t think I understand gender. I’m not completely blind to what’s considered normal in my culture, but when I think about it, I find evidence that there’s something weird underneath.
It’s possible that, if there’s imprinting involved, that’s part of why none of the standard theories make sense. And I don’t have an explanation why human societies (all of them, so far as I know) set up sex roles in such a way that there’s something to imprint on.
One of the mysteries in all this is that sex roles are getting somewhat softened and blurred. How much would transexuality mean if the sex roles aren’t there?
My experience is that transsexuals have an uneasy existence in genderqueer communities because they tend to have a very solid, traditional gender identity that’s just mismatched with their biological sex. And so when a theorist argues that gender is just a social construction that can mean whatever we want it to mean, the transsexuals all cough nervously.
That is to say, enough of the sex roles is biological that I don’t think whatever makes transsexuals dislike their bodies pre-transition will go away as social pressure to conform diminishes.
Transvestism is usually framed as wanting to dress like a member of the other sex. However, there’s no such thing as dressing like a woman or dressing like a man. There’s only dressing like a particular time and place’s idea of a man or a woman.
I assume there’s imprinting involved, but as I said, I don’t think I understand gender. I’m not completely blind to what’s considered normal in my culture, but when I think about it, I find evidence that there’s something weird underneath.
It’s possible that, if there’s imprinting involved, that’s part of why none of the standard theories make sense. And I don’t have an explanation why human societies (all of them, so far as I know) set up sex roles in such a way that there’s something to imprint on.