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The tragic end of the boy who was brought up as a girl.

dhyana

March 13, 2012

23 upvotes

/r/MensRights

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tragic-end-of-the-boy-who-was-brought-up-as-a-girl-6170071.html

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Post Information

Title	The tragic end of the boy who was brought up as a girl.
Author	dhyana
Upvotes	23
Comments	14
Date	March 13, 2012 6:31 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/quvmx/the_tragic_end_of_the_boy_who_was_brought_up_as_a/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-tragic-end-of-the-boy-who-was-brought-up-as-a.1026005 https://theredarchive.com/post/1026005

Comments

[+][deleted] 14 years ago (12 children) | Copy Link

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[+][deleted] 14 years ago (6 children) | Copy Link

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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]Lawtonfogle 2 points3 points4 points 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

I dare say that it is actually possible for that to happen, but the entire culture would have to be so different than our current one, and any dramatic switch or trying to force such an idea on people is going to end very badly in our current culture.

To consider something of an example, there are foods that if I were to feed them to my child, not only would it be labeled child abuse, my child would suffer because, to my child, I must hate them for forcing them to eat those things. But in another country, eating certain spiders and insects is an acceptable food source. Or what about the extreme example of feeding my child animal sperm. Sounds horrible, but if you eat eggs off a farm where the rooster spends time around the hens, that is part of what you are eating.

Attemping to say gender can be eliminated within our current culture is stupid and trying to do so can be downright harmful. But that doesn't mean it is impossible.

[+][deleted] 14 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

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[–]SabineLavine 4 points5 points6 points 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]eskachig 2 points3 points4 points 14 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

I have never understood this, but I don't feel free to ask in feminist spaces. How is the idea that gender is a social construction reconciled with the acceptance that transexuals feel they are "born" men or women with bodies that don't match?

I think most feminists these days aren't so rigid about gender identity as a purely social construct. They would probably say that the gender experience is the social construct, not the gender itself. I tend to agree - how society treats men and women has little to do with nature.

If anything, I think this is also a good story for showing why procedures like circumcision shouldn't be done unless medically necessary. Were it not for being needlessly circumcised at 8 months, his life may have been completely different.

There is no 'may' about it. Tragic.

[–]KingOfSockPuppets 2 points3 points4 points 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

I have never understood this, but I don't feel free to ask in feminist spaces. How is the idea that gender is a social construction reconciled with the acceptance that transexuals feel they are "born" men or women with bodies that don't match?

It's reconcilable to some degree once you've drawn the appropriate distinctions. In this case, the key ones to keep in mind are gender identity and gender expression. No one wins when one says 'gender is all biological!' (dresses are tied to biology?) or 'gender is just a bunch of socially constructed shit!' (trans people?).

Gender identity is something that seems to be largely innate to everyone, one way or another. Transsexual people have a body and a gender identity that don't match, for example. But as the raimer case (tragically) demonstrates, this is something even cis people appear to have, although for them it's usually so in-tune as to be functionally invisibe. This part of the gender equation appears to be biological for the most part.

Gender expression is how someone expresses their gender identity. This part of gender is where the social construction part of things comes in. After all, there's no reason panties and a dress intrinsically mean 'female'; we just associate them together. THIS part of gender IS socially constructed through those kinds of associations that only exist in how we perceive them.

These sorts of nuances get glossed over when you just approach 'gender' as some monolithic entity without subdivisions. Approached from this angle, the debate makes a great deal more sense than the polarized stances in either direction.

[–]carbonnanotube 1 point2 points3 points 14 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[–]Ragnrok 1 point2 points3 points 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]Irrel_M -1 points0 points1 point 14 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link