Transgendered

DennisB

Really Really Experienced
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Posts
395
I do not want this to be a political discussion nor a slur. I was involved in a discussion the other night over men turning into women and the aftermath. One female at the table showed her objection to sharing a bathroom with such a person. It was an interesting table discussion. I thought about if i had any objections to a guy who was born a gal? I am very much interested in hearing from both sexes on this subject. Here were some additional highlights in our discussion.
Public showers like at a health club or pool. Girls are all showering and a transgendered female comes in, with a penis.
Transgendered females who enter women sporting contests. Having male musculature, they are the easy favorite. Fair?
And there were many more.

What are your thoughts???
 
Denis - that's a very good question and it's one I often consider "in passing". I am in the UK and I think (standing by to be flamed here) that too much is made of the transgender issue. It is currently fashionable and because of that its a "hot topic". We ever read in the news about primary schools (i.e. 5-11) discussing the issue with young children. However, more and more we read of people who, having made the "transition" wish that they hadn't - because they have not found the happiness that they thought they would. I absolutely understand that there are a small number of people who believe that they have been born "in the wrong body"; I sympathise with them but I am not sure that I agree with "reassignment" surgery - sorry if that upsets anyone - but I am sure you get my meaning. In the world in which we live there are always compromises to be made - and weighing up the pros and cons of any action are always difficult because we are often trying to compare apples with oranges. So I try to find a common denominator; in terms of reassignment surgery I ask myself the question "how many cancer patients could be treated for the same sum of money"? In terms of athletics I think that it is ridiculous to let M to F people to compete against women - just plain - absolutely - nailed on wrong! There are lots more issues your question raises but I have probably said enough to go straight to the top of some people's hate list so I'll leave it there for now! Good question to stimulate academic discussion though! Sam
 
For myself, when faced with issues that I am not suitably educated in, I try to seek out information from those who are. Not to sound snarky, but this is rarely achieved with friends as clueless as myself. For the issue of sexual identity, the ones who specialize in this are psychologists. Everything else is mere speculation and personal biased opinion — a virtually useless way to gather facts ... unless brute majority rule is one's preferred choice for society.

To that end, my contribution to this discussion is a link to the American Psychological Association website; https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender

For anyone seriously interested in an educated perspective, there is a lot of information available.
 
Based on a course I took in school many years ago regarding homosexuality, transgenders, and transsexuals, the straight women in the bathroom or shower with a transgender with a penis should not feel that they are in any sort of danger unless the "trans" is a phony. A straight male in a public shower with a gay male might have more reason to feel concerned just as would a straight woman in a public shower with a lesbian woman. Not that either should feel unduly in danger if the homosexual person is of reasonably stable personality.

Simply put, a homosexual is a person who is attracted to a person of the same sex. A transgender person is someone who would also likely be attracted to someone of the same physical sex. Likewise a transsexual person would be attracted to someone of the sex the transsexual person used to be. The trans with the penis in the shower with the women would see themselves as a woman and thus NOT be likely to make any sort of unwanted advances. The problem exists in the mind of the women fearing the transgender male. It goes to the unfortunate notion held by many women that all humans in possession of a penis want to use it with a woman as would a straight human with a penis.
 
For myself, when faced with issues that I am not suitably educated in, I try to seek out information from those who are. Not to sound snarky, but this is rarely achieved with friends as clueless as myself. For the issue of sexual identity, the ones who specialize in this are psychologists. Everything else is mere speculation and personal biased opinion — a virtually useless way to gather facts ... unless brute majority rule is one's preferred choice for society.

To that end, my contribution to this discussion is a link to the American Psychological Association website; https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender

For anyone seriously interested in an educated perspective, there is a lot of information available.

Very well said! I’ll contribute two more cents. First off, and not too sound too nit picky, but it’s “Transgender” not “transgendered” . There is a fantastic article in National Geographic a year or two ago. I don’t have a link, but anyone who hasn’t read it really should look it up!

I have some mixed feelings, and I do think there are a few legitimate concerns to address, particularly in regards to Male to Female Transgender professional athletes. Overall though, I think there has been a bit too much hype about all of these issues. I mean that in terms of both the volume of objections some people have towards transgender people, as well as the volume of demands for acceptance for transgender people. Some of the issues and concerns just really aren’t that difficult to address, at least they shouldn’t be, but some of the issues are just not going to go away immediately, and will take some time to sort out. Eventually, I’m hopeful that most folks will be able to simply shrug off our differences and go on about living our lives together. It ain’t rocket science to treat each other with kindness and respect after all.
 
Very well said! I’ll contribute two more cents. First off, and not too sound too nit picky, but it’s “Transgender” not “transgendered” . There is a fantastic article in National Geographic a year or two ago. I don’t have a link, but anyone who hasn’t read it really should look it up!

I have some mixed feelings, and I do think there are a few legitimate concerns to address, particularly in regards to Male to Female Transgender professional athletes. Overall though, I think there has been a bit too much hype about all of these issues. I mean that in terms of both the volume of objections some people have towards transgender people, as well as the volume of demands for acceptance for transgender people. Some of the issues and concerns just really aren’t that difficult to address, at least they shouldn’t be, but some of the issues are just not going to go away immediately, and will take some time to sort out. Eventually, I’m hopeful that most folks will be able to simply shrug off our differences and go on about living our lives together. It ain’t rocket science to treat each other with kindness and respect after all.

Here's a National Geographic link for those interested;

How Science Is Helping Us Understand Gender

Here's a link to Medscape.com;

Gender Identity

At the end of the day, our worldview is shaped by many things; cultural/social influences, religious beliefs, level of education ... and also on personal traits such as empathy or lack of empathy, etc. One would like to think that science plays a big part in shaping our worldview, but the acceptance of science also depends a lot on the same inputs.

Some of the "concerns" are red herring distractions; Why don't we have private single stall/lockable public restrooms/showers? Why can we not include the science of human sexual identity into our school's curriculum? If the US military was able to integrate trans people, why can't we all? And why are the fears of heterosexual humans more urgent than the fears of others? ... see the paragraph above ;)
 
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