One of my husband’s friends is a transsexual. I haven’t actually talked a lot with her about it (because she didn’t want to, being fed up with everyone wanting to talk about it all the time), but I gather that (with her at least, and with many if not most others) it’s really just a question of body image. That is, it isn’t a question of ‘identity’, it’s just that they feel like their body is wrong, that they have parts that shouldn’t be there and are missing parts that should. The right analogy isn’t with ‘otherkin’ (I didn’t even know those existed!), but with those people that feel like their arm or leg doesn’t belong to them, and go to great lengths to have the ‘extra’ body part amputated.
The dangers of N=1 studies. I’ve met people for whom it was almost entirely a question of body image, and people for whom it was almost entirely a question of social perception—if they were exiled to a desert island forever, they would feel very little gender dysphoria, the problems start when people start saying “You’re such a beautiful girl!” instead of “You’re such a strong boy!”.
Transpeople with that “I should have this disability” disorder confirm that the dysphoria induced by extra limbs or senses are similar to the dysphoria induced by having a wrongly sexed body, so you’re right.
One of my husband’s friends is a transsexual. I haven’t actually talked a lot with her about it (because she didn’t want to, being fed up with everyone wanting to talk about it all the time), but I gather that (with her at least, and with many if not most others) it’s really just a question of body image. That is, it isn’t a question of ‘identity’, it’s just that they feel like their body is wrong, that they have parts that shouldn’t be there and are missing parts that should. The right analogy isn’t with ‘otherkin’ (I didn’t even know those existed!), but with those people that feel like their arm or leg doesn’t belong to them, and go to great lengths to have the ‘extra’ body part amputated.
The dangers of N=1 studies. I’ve met people for whom it was almost entirely a question of body image, and people for whom it was almost entirely a question of social perception—if they were exiled to a desert island forever, they would feel very little gender dysphoria, the problems start when people start saying “You’re such a beautiful girl!” instead of “You’re such a strong boy!”.
Transpeople with that “I should have this disability” disorder confirm that the dysphoria induced by extra limbs or senses are similar to the dysphoria induced by having a wrongly sexed body, so you’re right.
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