4 ms·

I think the theory is that people want to fit in (or alternatively, stand out.) If you surround yourself with people who are transgender, you may inherently wan

I think the theory is that people want to fit in (or alternatively, stand out.) If you surround yourself with people who are transgender, you may inherently want to fit that norm. Not sure whether I agree this is a real phenomenon, but I understand the argument.

XorNot 4y ago
If you reframed the argument as: "there's only so many gay people because they want to fit in and be different and being gay is cool now" then it sounds ridiculous, which tells you everything you need to know about it's validity. Whereas the prevalence in text from antiquity of "men disguising themselves as women" should perhaps give people pause as to why this concept was out there in fiction despite being centuries removed from surgical transitioning being possible Because subtext is dead: because gender dysmorphia isn't new, and it was probably quite common for people to do this "as a joke" as a means of spending time in an identity that they found satisfying, to various levels of acceptance of the community around them. Thus writers and audiences of the time knew of the phenomenon and used it as a plot point - people tend to write what they know. The era of "no women on stage" very likely found a reliable source of men willing to play female characters and doing a very good job of it - otherwise it would've been a bit of a scripting and production problem as well.
- lwansbrough 4y ago
  Well there are people who think they may be gay only to discover that they aren’t over time/through experimentation. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to allow for a non-binary reality where a person is better off not transitioning, even if they experience feelings of transgenderism.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 4y ago
  <<If you reframed the argument as: "there's only so many gay people because they want to fit in and be different and being gay is cool now" then it sounds ridiculous, which tells you everything you need to know about it's validity. Without assigning value judgement to the transgender as a norm/not a norm/social construct/we, you cannot dismiss parent's argument this way. Parent is not claiming 'gays exist only as function of emulating other's behavior'. Parent is claiming there is a social factor that is influencing a younger person to claim being transgender. It is hard to easily dismiss it, because kids do in fact attempt to emulate authority figures ( parents ) and peers ( friends ).

XorNot 4y ago

If you reframed the argument as: "there's only so many gay people because they want to fit in and be different and being gay is cool now" then it sounds ridiculous, which tells you everything you need to know about it's validity. Whereas the prevalence in text from antiquity of "men disguising themselves as women" should perhaps give people pause as to why this concept was out there in fiction despite being centuries removed from surgical transitioning being possible Because subtext is dead: because gender dysmorphia isn't new, and it was probably quite common for people to do this "as a joke" as a means of spending time in an identity that they found satisfying, to various levels of acceptance of the community around them. Thus writers and audiences of the time knew of the phenomenon and used it as a plot point - people tend to write what they know. The era of "no women on stage" very likely found a reliable source of men willing to play female characters and doing a very good job of it - otherwise it would've been a bit of a scripting and production problem as well.

lwansbrough 4y ago
Well there are people who think they may be gay only to discover that they aren’t over time/through experimentation. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to allow for a non-binary reality where a person is better off not transitioning, even if they experience feelings of transgenderism.
A4ET8a8uTh0 4y ago
<<If you reframed the argument as: "there's only so many gay people because they want to fit in and be different and being gay is cool now" then it sounds ridiculous, which tells you everything you need to know about it's validity. Without assigning value judgement to the transgender as a norm/not a norm/social construct/we, you cannot dismiss parent's argument this way. Parent is not claiming 'gays exist only as function of emulating other's behavior'. Parent is claiming there is a social factor that is influencing a younger person to claim being transgender. It is hard to easily dismiss it, because kids do in fact attempt to emulate authority figures ( parents ) and peers ( friends ).