Does the transsexual experience support gender essentialism?

soulcakeduck · 2014-01-15T05:53:46+00:00

The idea of "gendered behavior" (gender roles) is entirely social construct. Even if there are broad and accurate generalizations about gender differences in behavior, no one would deny that there are also exceptions. The idea that women must or should comply (and men must/should not) with "feminine" generalizations is a social expectation.

I believe (please correct me) you may be operating under the impression that trans people are those that simply wish to behave as their "other" gender norm would dictate. That is not really an accurate description though. For example, someone can be born a man, but be a trans woman who nevertheless acts very "masculine."

Trans is not about getting your gender to match your preferred gender role/stereotypes. Cis people who bend gender stereotypes are still completely cis; trans people who do (or don't) bend gender stereotypes are still completely trans.

Perhaps a better way to think of it would be like we think of "phantom limbs." When people lose limbs they often have the sense their limb is still there. Their self image does not match their physical body. Some may repair this with surgery, but not all do or want to. I'm sure its an imperfect analogy but that is loosely a description of trans people too: their self image doesn't match their body, and they may repair it with surgery.

NobbyKnees · 2014-01-15T02:04:21+00:00

Of the blood, really?

No, it's an imbalance of humors.

You're not the first to bring up this tired old false dichotomy, and sadly you won't be the last.

People are fucking complicated. Trans people no less so. There are feminine trans men and masculine trans women. There are trans people all along the spectrum of gendered behavior, occupying the same range of "natural inclination" as cis folk, which is vast, and overlaps between genders.

[deleted] · 2014-01-15T00:51:22+00:00

[permanently deleted]

redwhiskeredbubul · 2014-01-16T22:58:48+00:00

I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that human understanding of biological sex is filtered through our cultural understanding of gender, arguably more so than our ideas of gender are shaped off of biology.

Now, by this I don't mean that biological sex doesn't exist. Human beings have sexual dimorphism in a way that is specific to humans, and that sexual dimorphism in peoples' bodies are shaped by their chromosomes in ways we can understand. But chromosomes can never explain everything. Take, as a complementary example, people with Turner's Syndrome or Kleinfelter's Syndrome. Why do we view these as medical issues in the first place, and not as third or fourth biological sexes? Because of gender. By and large people with these conditions identify themselves as women, and so does society at large. We don't have third and fourth genders available for them. Indeed, medically we see them as women with chromosome disorders. Intersex people are in something of the same boat, though I think it's even more striking with the above examples available.

If it's not chromosomes, then, what or whom actually determines a person's gender? I think trans people are basically people for whom this question is immediately pressing and shit hitting the fan. As somebody who identifies as bi, I get the plasticity of sexual orientation somewhat intuitively: it's not that you wake up one morning and discover you have become a bisexual (it's a label, not a personal destiny) but more that you wake up one morning and the assumed stability of heterosexual orientation isn't there anymore--you realize it wasn't supported by anything but itself. I don't see why gender should be any different.

That's why a belief that one's gender is wrong can't be 'delusional'--it belongs to the class of facts which are in fact true by virtue of the fact that one believes in them. If it's anything like sexual orientation, though, I do think that the rightness or wrongness of one's gender is a product of how one transitions, though--the 'fixedness' of it is something constructed ex post facto.

Title	Does the transsexual experience support gender essentialism?
Author	TyrianXIII
Upvotes	4
Comments	31
Date	January 14, 2014 10:30 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1v85qj/does_the_transsexual_experience_support_gender/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/does-the-transsexual-experience-support-gender.286367 https://theredarchive.com/post/286367

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