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I have seriously and honestly asked myself this! In my own head and never publicly, of course. I don't believe it's subject to rational/utilitarian analysis. It

by psyc 5y ago

I have seriously and honestly asked myself this! In my own head and never publicly, of course. I don't believe it's subject to rational/utilitarian analysis. It has, gradually at first, accelerating to a tipping point, become fashionable (albeit in a very serious way) to seek to protect this category of person. Admittedly reductionist, but I believe the core essence is simply this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ I think protection, respect, dignity, rights for LGBTQ people is great! But as you note, there is something extra here. It seems like the entire population, which is mostly cis and hetero, is being asked... well, not asked, really. It's not a request anymore, is it? Strongly urged, to deconstruct and overhaul how we think and speak about sex and gender in all contexts and at all times. And this is a bit difficult to square with the goodness of protecting LGBTQ people. It's a little extra. I was going to write that the growth of this movement consists of cishet people ("allies!"), since it's not a recruitment drive to turn people. But then I realized that's not strictly true either. While I do not believe that sexuality and dysphoria are chosen, there is some fuzziness in the [TQ] part. I could, with high sincerity, choose to identify as agender, possibly a bit genderfluid, which under the current rules qualifies me to identify as non-binary, which under the current rules qualifies me to identify myself as transgender. I don't do that. I don't see it as being in my interest, but that could change. I could join up in the future. In closing, I wish that there was the same level of zeal for protecting the very poor, homeless, mentally and chronically ill!

buckfast 5y ago
> In closing, I wish that there was the same level of zeal for protecting the very poor, homeless, mentally and chronically ill! Very much agreed. I suspect that a lot of these identity issues are being deliberately pushed as a distraction from these more fundamental and wider societal concerns of material wellbeing that successive governments have largely failed at addressing. > While I do not believe that sexuality and dysphoria are chosen The leap of logic with gender dysphoria in recent years seems to be that if a person has dysphoria, then they actually are the alternate gender (in terms of a replacement to the concept of sex) that they desire to be. So, we're told, people identify into the role of a man or a woman, rather than simply existing as such in material biological reality. Personally I find that assertion rather questionable, but it seems it's no longer acceptable to question this.

by psyc 5y ago

buckfast 5y ago

> In closing, I wish that there was the same level of zeal for protecting the very poor, homeless, mentally and chronically ill! Very much agreed. I suspect that a lot of these identity issues are being deliberately pushed as a distraction from these more fundamental and wider societal concerns of material wellbeing that successive governments have largely failed at addressing. > While I do not believe that sexuality and dysphoria are chosen The leap of logic with gender dysphoria in recent years seems to be that if a person has dysphoria, then they actually are the alternate gender (in terms of a replacement to the concept of sex) that they desire to be. So, we're told, people identify into the role of a man or a woman, rather than simply existing as such in material biological reality. Personally I find that assertion rather questionable, but it seems it's no longer acceptable to question this.