> I'm not talking about the medical treatment. > My question was why do you believe those people need an external frame of reference to know whether those feeli

> I'm not talking about the medical treatment. > My question was why do you believe those people need an external frame of reference to know whether those feelings are correct or not? I don't know. I'm sure many genuinely feel this way and I'm sure there are those who pretend in order to fit in, but then again you can say that about anything. What's in my opinion much more interesting is how to deal with it in the public forum. I think it's fair to require something more than just a subjective feeling in order to treat these people as being of the opposite sex, up to and including performing surgeries on them to make them look the part. > You implied they do, but haven't explained why. I can't possibly tell what people are thinking, I can only discuss what people say and do. > that statement assumes your position on the issue in question. Is it like an eating disorder or not? I think they are distinct conditions with distinct causes and treatments, but I think in both cases I think treatment should value physical facts over subjective feelings, which is an uncontroversial position for eating disorders, but a controversial one for gender dysphoria. > I can't parse the meaning of this sentence. I mean that even without an external frame of reference you do have a perfectly good internal one. Most people alternate between being hungry and not being hungry several times a day and know perfectly well what either feels like.