Post by ArArArchStanton on Mar 26, 2017 18:19:12 GMT
We should accept others when they are not harming others. The rest doesn't matter. Despite what OP seems to think, we do accept anorexic patients and addicts in society. Now, whether we should provide them with care is another matter entirely. Healthcare professionals should provide health service when the patient (or legalsponsor) wants it and when there is something we can change that could help the patients more than the evidence suggests it harms them. Gender (1) is a definition that exists in a dimension completely alien to secondary sexual characteristics (2), reproductive organs (3) and sexual chromossomes (4). It is a psychosocial definition of identity, much like being Chinese, being a cinephile, etc, and it's mostly dependent on brain type, its cognitive byproducts and identity development during human growth. It's more fundamental than being a cinephile, probably more fundamental in most senses than being of your given nationality, but just as impossible to change as it is. As for the other numbers, they are all definitions operationalized on biological morphology, except for number 2, that contains cognitive and behavioral dimensions as well. Number 3 is defined by number 4 and certain conditions of embryonic development. Number 2 is defined by certain conditions of development and complex physiological changes started by "cues" sent by different parts of the body under certain conditions, among them 3. However, a lot of variation does occur already at this level of analysis for a variety of different reasons, and these characteristics may not be expressed at all, due to both artificial and natural factors. Either way, gender is completely different, and that's why TG people's minds do match reality. They don't wrongly believe they are chromossomal Xy or XX, nor do they believe they have male or female reproductive organs, nor do they believe they have or don't have male or female secondary characteristics. They don't necessarily believe anything at all. They just have a male or female type mind they cannot change and an identity that reflects that mind. As for choosing your own gender identity, evidence suggests it's not much of a choice, and that it's not changeable eiher, even if the patient wants it to change, by any service we can provide him/her that would not incur in irreversible, unjustifiable harm and, all evidence suggests, not even work at all. People already tried doing this in the past, sometimes with consent and previous patient demand, just as people already tried doing other things we now know we can't do. It's not just guesswork. Now, let's suppose that you could change your gender identity by choice. That would be a great power in your hands, and, according to the criteria above, there's no reason whatsoever we should not accept you and your choice. Now, should we provide you with some kind of healthcare? It totally depends on what changing your gender would mean to you. Would it provoke body dysphoria (this, yes, a negative symptom, unlike being TG, and which does not have any fundamental relationship at all to the patients' beliefs)? That happens for some, but not all trans people. If yes, then we should present you with the option of undergoing HRT, SRS and counseling. All of this process is only began after a careful psychological evaluation that tries to determine that you really do present the neccessary requirements and that doing so has, according to the data we have, a higher probability of helping you more than harming you. That is, briefly explained, how healthcare works. [ArArArchStanton , I don't know, from your previous post, if you are really interested at all in understanding the scientific method step by step and its applications to these issues. Here is, once again, one more summarized explanation. If you are still really interested in knowing the steps involved, tell me so, and I will you give you the technical, long, strict explanation you want.]
As for hanging out with crossdressers, that's totally OK, and we should, yes, accept it, just as we accept them for who they are. There's no reason not to. The same goes for hanging out with TG people. You could also choose not to hang out with them, just as you can choose not to hang out with men, with women, with college students, or any other group of people. Who you hang out with is your choice. Transphobia is in not accepting TG people, holding discriminatory beliefs about them, denying them their rights, promoting discrimination or negative beliefs about them (a kind of discrimination), and other things that help separate them from the rest of the population. Who you hang out with has very little or nothing to do with it. Actually, if you remain your whole life neutral and silent about them, there's no reason for we to even call your behavior transphobic. You might then still secretely hold transphobic beliefs and attitudes, but we don't have access to them. Your mind is your palace.
Did I answer your question? If not, feel free to rephrase it and ask what you did not understand.