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Disappointed, not surprised
That so many of the comments to this article seem to be suggesting that if only gender roles were less rigidly enforced, trans people would have the good grace to cease existing.
Fortunately, not true. I hope those people will realise this. At least the comments seem to improve further down the page.
Also very annoyed with comments indicating the commenter was dissatisfied with eir assigned gender role yet is not trans, phrased in a manner suggestive that ey believes ey was fortunate eir parents did not send em to a therapist and get em diagnosed trans, pushed into transsexuality. Mostly, because this suggests a disturbing attitude that being transsexual is something pushed on people who do not conform to assigned gender roles in order to make them over into something which fits their behaviour. It doesn't work that way, and trans people nearly always have to push to get what they want from the medical establishment - it is not forced on them - and it is unfortunately not unusual for medical professionals to torment their patients with arbitrary hoops and waiting periods more extreme than officially required.
I would find it laughable if this idea were not so pervasive, with so much social force behind it, but since this is such a common feminist criticism of the existence of trans people, I find it disturbing instead. It is not, nor should it ever be, about people being forced into something they do not wish. The issue is bodily and behavioural autonomy, and although they may seem to be, I do not think comments like this are helpful on this subject.
As a note to people who may not be aware of this, what Zucker does with the children brought to him seems to me very akin to one of the major (the major?) standard 'treatments' designed to render autistic children more normal.
Fortunately, not true. I hope those people will realise this. At least the comments seem to improve further down the page.
Also very annoyed with comments indicating the commenter was dissatisfied with eir assigned gender role yet is not trans, phrased in a manner suggestive that ey believes ey was fortunate eir parents did not send em to a therapist and get em diagnosed trans, pushed into transsexuality. Mostly, because this suggests a disturbing attitude that being transsexual is something pushed on people who do not conform to assigned gender roles in order to make them over into something which fits their behaviour. It doesn't work that way, and trans people nearly always have to push to get what they want from the medical establishment - it is not forced on them - and it is unfortunately not unusual for medical professionals to torment their patients with arbitrary hoops and waiting periods more extreme than officially required.
I would find it laughable if this idea were not so pervasive, with so much social force behind it, but since this is such a common feminist criticism of the existence of trans people, I find it disturbing instead. It is not, nor should it ever be, about people being forced into something they do not wish. The issue is bodily and behavioural autonomy, and although they may seem to be, I do not think comments like this are helpful on this subject.
As a note to people who may not be aware of this, what Zucker does with the children brought to him seems to me very akin to one of the major (the major?) standard 'treatments' designed to render autistic children more normal.
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I don't think I was an idiot, and I don't think that the people who feel trapped and pressured into "ex-gay therapy" are either. They're desperate to feel loved, and evangelicalism denies them that unless they "normalize" themselves.
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I know, I'm cynical. Sorries.
And I don't think you're an idiot...you know that. :\
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I'm not really seeing how it's stupid to want love, either. :/
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It's when I lack compassion for single individuals that these things happen.
Wanting love has always struck me as stupid. It comes from my inability to percieve it when it was there as a child, I think -- I decided since I wasn't going to get it, nobody should want it, and it was dumb to want it...
You're disturbingly good at that, y'know. >.>
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In this case, though, I feel for what these people must be going through, because I've been there.
And... *hugs you so tight...*
Oh, and disturbingly good at what? o.o
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I have to say it seems like the kind of thing that could be threatening to some people, even to me a little. If I didn't know you tend to be unjudgmental, I could see myself getting paranoid/offensive about it. :\ Just like anybody else, I do that sometimes. :(
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Please let me know if I ever cross a line, there.
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I only have problems with believers when they get pushy, and you never have. :)
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See, if a person starts hearing voices or seeing things, and they're an atheist, they go to a shrink, or they try to push the hallucinations out, or whatever. Religious people occasionally do this thing where they start hearing voices or seeing things, and it's GOD communicating with them, and who's to say GOD won't tell them to start stabbing that mannish-looking chick across the bus from them today? (i.e., myself.)
I know it's irrational, but it's still true. :\
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