Seeing the Lights (2008/02/25)

New post: Oops.

Hurray for being on time! Since my previous plans for the day have been changed, I think I will use this time for writing more.

Question answered

[13:56] soltice: I'm curious, where would you like to live the most?
[13:56] aesmael: Hm?
[13:56] aesmael: Out of where?
[13:57] soltice: Well, if you had the choice to live anywhere, where would you like to live?
[13:59] aesmael: Somewhere on a hill overlooking a distant but reachable ocean, with a beautiful garden and friends and family close by. There would be sun, and rain, and snow in winter and in spring you can walk barefoot.

Topic du jour

I despise arguments for acceptance on the basis that the person concerned holds no choice in being who they are. Common examples being homosexuality and, at the moment, transsexuality. Specifically the discussion - arguments - concerning people who see being transsexual as a birth defect, that their body and brain sex are mismatched and all they need is to have their bodies modified so they can live as normative members of society.

The problem is, such appeals work because it is currently possible to cosmetically alter the rest of the body to match the person's claimed brain sex and it is not currently possible to alter the brain so it conforms to the body.

I do not believe this will always be the case. If, in the future, it becomes possible to alter a person's gender (or sexuality) "I can't help it" will no longer be a tenable excuse. If you wish to have the freedom to live your life as you would prefer, you will have to find a new argument. One that will persuade the greater public it is wrong to deny you this freedom, or right to allow it.

To say people should be accepted on the basis of their not having a choice about who they are - to say "this trait is inborn and cannot be altered, and therefore you should not discriminate against me because of it" - implicitly suggests that people who cannot make the same claim are less deserving of acceptance and that someone who does have a choice should choose otherwise. If this argument is the condition on which people allow your existence, then as soon as it does become possible you will be expected to make the choice to become acceptable.

If you have a medical condition, then as technology improves you will be expected to be fully cured.

Cross-posted: aesmael, genderqueer, transfeminism, transgender