Reply #20: No [View All]

I could lie but i'm not going to.

Look, i'm like the above poster. I would be friends with a Transgendered person. I'd have no problem with them in my house, at my table, watching my children, etc. If someone is born one physical sex, and identifies as another, I have no problem with them living however they wish. I have done some, though not extremely extensive, research into the area when I was a graduate anthropology student and did a few papers on gender, particularly cultures with more than two genders, such as Tahiti which has a Physically Male living as female gender that's fully accepted. It doesn't squick me or make me uncomfortable.

I also understand that there are people in our society that are in dire need of help because of our rigid two gender system (really you could argue that we have more, but not officially) and that people do commit suicide over it.

I'm not arguing that it should be ignored, just that I think the surgical reassignment is not the correct approach. Living as a different gender is one thing, but when you need to cut pieces off your body in order to feel better about yourself, particularly which requires modern surgical procedures to make happen, then you're entering the realm of self mutilation in my mind.

I'll just never see physical mutilation as a valid form of treatment in this regard. There must be other ways to help people that are suffering besides chopping off pieces of their body.