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JK Rowling: Profoundly Misunderstood

What she said was still in support of a deeply harmful and ideologically charged movie as well as an underlying misconception, though, because "gender identity theory" is just the current medical consensus on the difference between gender and sex. Taking into account her defense of gender-critical Maya Forstater, it seems to me that she's clearly leaning in the anti-scientific direction of gender abolitionists. That's the same ideology where people are supposed to have all gender identification tied to sex and nothing more.

She's mirroring the form of his tweet: he starts by saying something praising Rowling as a means of saying something critical about other women. She says something positive as a means of saying something critical about his approach.

You see people doing this on RF every day, responding in the form of the post they are replying to.

I can't see anything that she has said that is "anti-scientific", all of her views seem scientifically defensible, even if the science is often blurred on this issue.

To me it seems like she thinks transwomen should be free to live as women in general, but it must be acknowledged that there are differences between ciswomen and transwomen and these can be consequential. If you accept this then this is an issue of competing rights rather than right/wrong.

For example, should a women's refuge for victims of sexual abuse be allowed to refuse entry to a transwoman with a penis? Some people will insist its transphobic to do this, but there is clearly legitimate reasons why their presence may be intimidating to vulnerable ciswomen. You need to favour one right over another, and favouring the ciswomen does not necessitate hate or prejudice against transwomen.

Unless you say there can never be any differences in treatment between cis/transwomen you are accepting there must be some lines drawn that justify different treatment, it's just a question of where ti draw these lines. But to get the most equitable solution to all involved, this would require the ability to discuss the issue openly, without the fear that armies of ideologues will parse every word you say and try to "problematise" it to gain social credit.

We also have to accept that if self-ID is all that matters, some bad-faith actors will abuse this. This will cause some harms. The extent to which this will happen is unknown and unknowable, but it certainly will happen because that's human nature.

Rowling pointed out that cismen will abuse the system, and this got spun into "she says transwomen are just men in dresses".

The other point of criticism is that she has expressed concern that vulnerable teens are being transitioned too quickly and without sufficient safeguarding.

This is a highly disputed area, but a gender identity clinic in the UK was closed down amid accusations it was fast-tracking people without sufficient exploration of alternatives, and some researchers have suggested detransitioning is underreported.

It seems like a legitimate concern to me on an issue people should investigate further with an open mind and look at the emerging evidence. I don't think anyone can say who is "right" at this point.

What would you say is the best evidence she is "anti-scientific"?
 

Watchmen

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Remus Lupin's Werewolf Condition Is A Metaphor For HIV And AIDS, J.K. Rowling Writes In New Book

This goes into detail about it being a metaphor for HIV. I will admit maybe she didnt see the implications of having Fenrir Greyback infect children. But it does look really bad. Especially since as far as i know Lupin is the only werewolf in the series who doesn't intentionally infect others. This may not be intentional but tying the werewolves with HIV was a bad move. And she's never clarified if it was intentional to have it be as bad of a metaphor as it ended up being or not...in light of the trans issues I wonder if it was. But i dont know if it was or not because she's never said. Even tho its been pointed out to her by fans
Yes, there was a werewolf infecting children, just as there are (a very small minority of) HIV positive people committing sex abuse. But let’s not forget the focus of that story is on Lupin who was wrongfully discriminated against because of his condition. He’s a sympathetic character. Seems to me that Rowling has no I’ll will towards HIV positive folks and, in fact, has spoken out against discrimination of HIV positive people via the Lupin character, one of the most righteous individuals in all the books.
 
Remus Lupin's Werewolf Condition Is A Metaphor For HIV And AIDS, J.K. Rowling Writes In New Book

This goes into detail about it being a metaphor for HIV. I will admit maybe she didnt see the implications of having Fenrir Greyback infect children. But it does look really bad. Especially since as far as i know Lupin is the only werewolf in the series who doesn't intentionally infect others. This may not be intentional but tying the werewolves with HIV was a bad move. And she's never clarified if it was intentional to have it be as bad of a metaphor as it ended up being or not...in light of the trans issues I wonder if it was. But i dont know if it was or not because she's never said. Even tho its been pointed out to her by fans

The headline is slightly misleading. It is not specifically an HIV metaphor, but one about "blood-borne conditions".

She says it is a "metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS.. All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes."

To me, it seems much more probable that she was meaning the first of these rather than the 2nd:

"People with blood-borne conditions are often unfairly stigmatised through irrational prejudice"

"People with HIV may deliberately infect children"


No one likes it when others interpret their words with bad-faith, yet modern discourse seems to be built around a game where this is socially rewarded. If the default was to give people the benefit of the doubt, there would be a lot less hate across the board.
 

Nimos

Well-Known Member
J.K. Rowling Claims Her Statements On Transgender Women Have Been ‘Profoundly’ Misunderstood In New Podcast

I agree that all the ire drawn towards her positions recently, is nothing but misunderstanding of her position, which isn't an uncommon one, even amongst biologists, sociologists, and anthropologists.

There is a profound difference between the lived experiences of biological females, and trans individuals, for instance.

There is also a split between what is biological sex (ie chromosomes and hormones), and expressed societal gender.

Sex =\= gender or vice versa.
Know nothing about what she has said and not said.

But if I ever became famous I would stay away from social media or any shows that would like me to state an opinion about something :D
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Both Tolkein and HP are big on worldbuilding, shallow on character. The former because the epic narrative structure, which is very operatic, depends on heavy use of archetyping. The latter because it's a children's series, and it doesn't handle much of anything with depth. It's more a vibe. Even within 'Wizard school' literature, which there were less popular but more robust versions long before HP. But honestly being less of a story and more of a vibe is probably what made it so popular, over stuff like Earthsea or The Worst Witch, Books of Magic, etc.

Agree with all of that. I'm not convinced that's what breaks it for me though. There are other world builders I enjoy. I just always felt like there was...hmm...maybe a bit too much self-indulgence with some of it? That's not quite the right expression, but ultimately they both have a lack of counter narratives, or...something...

It's just the vibe...lol.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Agree with all of that. I'm not convinced that's what breaks it for me though. There are other world builders I enjoy. I just always felt like there was...hmm...maybe a bit too much self-indulgence with some of it? That's not quite the right expression, but ultimately they both have a lack of counter narratives, or...something...

It's just the vibe...lol.
A bit too pat maybe?
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
A bit too pat maybe?

Yes, that's a decent framing.

It's kinda what I meant by counter narratives. It's entirely too obvious who has 'good' motives and 'bad'. It takes away what the reader brings to the text too much.

Even where that dynamic is played with, it's somewhat the black hat switching to white, or vice versa.

I like my fantasy to be more insightful on how reality works.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I could see it as metaphorical oversight on her part. I don't think she is as bad as everyone makes out though. It's my own biases though.
I haven't read any of it, but that seems to be the case. An author can't be held responsible for what someone wants to read into it, and it happens a lot (we all do it).
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
I haven't read any of it, but that seems to be the case. An author can't be held responsible for what someone wants to read into it, and it happens a lot (we all do it).

Yup, we all do. I actually favour authors who give us room to do this, and would expect different people to have different levels of empathy and connection with different characters.
 

The Kilted Heathen

Crow FreyjasmaðR
Thank you.
So we weren't able to find concrete evidence, mostly because the TERF keeps her finances private. However it has to deal with copyright laws and what is being handled. For media like the Harry Potter books, Rowling would get a more direct profit as they are her books. She is the author, and they are her works. For everything else - the movies, any games, merchandise that is based off the movies, etc - that is the property of Warner Brothers. Rowling doesn't get the profits off those sales, but WB still has to pay her a royalty for use of the Wizarding World IP. Even if there was never another Wizarding World game made, or any expansions on the Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts storylines, WB would still have to pay Rowling royalties to maintain their ownership of the IP. This is why they're able to completely exclude her from projects (as they've been very clear was done with Hogwarts Legacy) and even not include her in projects like the Hogwarts Reunion - she straight up was not invited to that.

It's continuing the Wizarding World in spite of her views, as we see it.

Tbh I have completely different reasons why I'm not buying the blood libel rebellion game set in the Jewish Goblin pogrom era.
I saw this concern going into the game, so I know where you're coming from with it. In the game however, the "Goblin Rebellions" is way less of a plot line or event, and it's entirely a single goblin (working with a human Wizard, and his followers, at that) and his direct followers hunting artefacts of Ancient Magic for reasons that I haven't gotten to yet. The differences between Wizarding and Goblinkind and various injustices are touched upon, but this game does take significant strides to actively change the narrative that Rowling's books suggested. Most goblins you meet in the game are very amicable, allied with the player and the Wizarding community of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, and sympathetic towards peaceful cohabitation rather than two warring communities. It's not perfect, but I feel it is really trying to actively change the narrative towards the better.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I've actually looked for proof of this nad I can't find any. Outside of being seen at a protest that was supposedly anti-trans (I actually disagree with that particular law myself, and think that you should need a diagnosis of dysphoria, before you can legally change your government documents like driver's license)
Just to add some nuance I want to point out that not every trans person has gender dysphoria, and gender dysphoria is also not unique to trans people.
Gender dysphoria: A concept designated in the DSM-5-TR as clinically significant distress or impairment related to gender incongruence, which may include desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics. Not all transgender or gender diverse people experience gender dysphoria.
What is Gender Dysphoria?.
Gender affirming care is overwhelmingly done more for cisgendered people over transgendered people. And includes treatment as slight as male pattern baldness treatments to as severe as breast augmentation or reconstruction. Ditto people like myself who identify as a woman but who have facial hair, some women that bothers, others it doesn't. Whenever someone's expectation of their body's sexual characteristics, both primary and secondary, does not reflect their gender identity, it can create gender dysphoria. But not everybody, cis, trans or non-binary, get emotional or psychological distress because of this body-identity mismatch. Just like not every amputee experiences phantom limb syndrome or phantom limb pain (though the majority do.)

Expecting that, to be trans, you must transition and experience gender dysphoria, is called transmedicalism, which there are lots of trans groups fighting against:
https://www.colorado.edu/honorsjour...hj2022-genderethnicstudies-hendriethetrap.pdf (warning, this is a link to a pdf download. The title is "THE TRAP OF TRANSMEDICALIZATION: holding communities and identies hostage")
Not All Trans People Experience Gender Dysphoria
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
Just to add some nuance I want to point out that not every trans person has gender dysphoria, and gender dysphoria is also not unique to trans people.
What is Gender Dysphoria?.
Gender affirming care is overwhelmingly done more for cisgendered people over transgendered people. And includes treatment as slight as male pattern baldness treatments to as severe as breast augmentation or reconstruction. Ditto people like myself who identify as a woman but who have facial hair, some women that bothers, others it doesn't. Whenever someone's expectation of their body's sexual characteristics, both primary and secondary, does not reflect their gender identity, it can create gender dysphoria. But not everybody, cis, trans or non-binary, get emotional or psychological distress because of this body-identity mismatch. Just like not every amputee experiences phantom limb syndrome or phantom limb pain (though the majority do.)

Expecting that, to be trans, you must transition and experience gender dysphoria, is called transmedicalism, which there are lots of trans groups fighting against:
https://www.colorado.edu/honorsjour...hj2022-genderethnicstudies-hendriethetrap.pdf (warning, this is a link to a pdf download. The title is "THE TRAP OF TRANSMEDICALIZATION: holding communities and identies hostage")
Not All Trans People Experience Gender Dysphoria
"Transmedicalism" was just the normal view of it until the political radicals took over a couple decades ago. If you don't have sex/gender dysphoria, you're not trans. Otherwise, what are the boundaries? At this point, pretty much everyone is "trans", due to "non-binary" being added on and that itself being something you just identify into.

"Trans" isn't something you identify as. It's not an identity. It's not an umbrella. It's just shorthand for transsexual or transgender, which used to mean the same thing. I'm tired of this crap and tired of being demonized, especially by people who aren't even trans and don't have dysphoria. Most of you don't even know what dysphoria is. If you woke up (being that you're female) with a penis, testicles, scrotum, prostate, male bone structure, male voice, etc. then you'd probably have it and might understand. It's not just the discomfort with puberty that I see so many talking about (no one under the sun enjoys puberty). It starts before puberty. I wouldn't be taking testosterone for almost 9 years now if it weren't for a medical condition. Otherwise, why should medical insurance cover it? I don't want my money going towards someone's face lift. It's not purely cosmetic like having a nose job.

Also, I don't "identify" as a man; I am a man as that is my experience of myself, and I'm an adult with male secondary sex characteristics. (As for the primary characteristics, I didn't have any control over that, but I change what I can and learn to live with what I can't or I'll go insane.) Biology really does make the difference here. You can "identify" as anything.

If you don't feel distress over it, then there's no point of transitioning.
 
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Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
I haven't seen anything Rowling has said that is transphobic. This whole thing is stupid. I don't care about Harry Potter, myself. I'm not really a fan of children's media, unless it's classic or from folklore.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
J.K. Rowling Claims Her Statements On Transgender Women Have Been ‘Profoundly’ Misunderstood In New Podcast

I agree that all the ire drawn towards her positions recently, is nothing but misunderstanding of her position, which isn't an uncommon one, even amongst biologists, sociologists, and anthropologists.

There is a profound difference between the lived experiences of biological females, and trans individuals, for instance.

There is also a split between what is biological sex (ie chromosomes and hormones), and expressed societal gender.

Sex =\= gender or vice versa.
From my understanding a lot of the anti trans sentiment that is put on Rowling’s “public image” isn’t due to her words per se, it’s her actions. Alleged actions I’ll say to be safe
Because she is usually deliberately pretty vague with her public comments. Possibly as a result of the controversy when the books first published. I mean after all that book burnings and talks about her “leading kids into Satanism”, I’d be super vague as well ngl

Now full disclosure I’m not 100 % sure of the exact specifics. I’ll try my best to hunt down some sources, but with the recent game “controversy” blowing up, it may take me a little time.
Also this is over the span of 5 or more years and I’m not from England so.

Multiple donations made towards campaigns that are actively against trans individuals. Allegedly, anyway.
Cited repeatedly by law makers (both UK and apparently even in the US) when trying to or even passing anti trans legislation.

Also this might be guilt by association, which I don’t think is fair, to be clear. But she has publicly endorsed various figures who have described themselves openly as anti trans, anti gay and one even as anti feminist. I believe one (Maya Forester) was in the middle of legally challenging her employment contract with a think tank due her open anti trans statements. I think she won her case, iirc.
Also iirc in a protest she was in, she quoted Mein Kampf to support her position. It was….weird

But this is all kind of second hand knowledge on my part. This whole discourse has been erupting for years. Probably made both sides grow more and more toxic, if I’m being honest.

One thing I did think was kind of awful on her part though. She opened a women’s abuse shelter (which is awesome) but she apparently clarified publicly that said shelter would turn away trans women and men specifically. Which, idk. if that’s true and not media spin, I feel like that’s just plain cruel. You could have some kind of compromise. Not even saying put such individuals who fit into those categories (for lack of a better phrase) together with cis women. Have them entirely seperate if you really want to. Or just give them a seperate place until some other shelter can take them. I dunno, just something.
I hope that story was taken out of context. Because that disgusted me, tbh

I will say though, I’ve seen many of her responses to criticisms (both toxic ones and earnest ones) over the years and honestly many of her responses have been really toxic and arrogant. Admittedly mostly on Twitter which I think brings out the worst in everyone by default. But still.
 
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Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I haven't seen anything Rowling has said that is transphobic. This whole thing is stupid. I don't care about Harry Potter, myself. I'm not really a fan of children's media, unless it's classic or from folklore.
Honestly, I thought that tweet of hers was misogynist to define being a woman by reproduction. And if we (trans) didn't exist it should become crystal clear to everyone how mean that is because it's saying to a lot of women she isn't a woman - with men it revolves around having a penis and testicles, and I must have been raised right because when it's something medical, genetic, accident or whatever you don't make fun of it and you do not ever view that person as less than for it.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
If you don't feel distress over it, then there's no point of transitioning.
That post is a reason I don't go to the trans support group. Hardly anyone there has dysphoria, hardly anyone is transitioning and lots of them are still very much looking and acting like their birth sex. Ask something about insurance or name change forms and very few have any idea.
And you mentioning insurance is an issue of MASSIVE implications. We need medical attention, and we need to be in distress to get it. It works tremendously to our advantage to have diagnosis attached to it because then it opens up the possibility of insurance coverage. If lots of trans people are fine without even changing simple things about their appearance that's actually problematic for us because it opens up the possibility to have our gains taken from us.
And we just aren't going through the same thing. We aren't. But anymore it seems effeminate men and tomboys are just called nonbinary and lumped in with us.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
"Transmedicalism" was just the normal view of it until the political radicals took over a couple decades ago. If you don't have sex/gender dysphoria, you're not trans. Otherwise, what are the boundaries? At this point, pretty much everyone is "trans", due to "non-binary" being added on and that itself being something you just identify into.

"Trans" isn't something you identify as. It's not an identity. It's not an umbrella. It's just shorthand for transsexual or transgender, which used to mean the same thing. I'm tired of this crap and tired of being demonized, especially by people who aren't even trans and don't have dysphoria. Most of you don't even know what dysphoria is. If you woke up (being that you're female) with a penis, testicles, scrotum, prostate, male bone structure, male voice, etc. then you'd probably have it and might understand. It's not just the discomfort with puberty that I see so many talking about (no one under the sun enjoys puberty). It starts before puberty. I wouldn't be taking testosterone for almost 9 years now if it weren't for a medical condition. Otherwise, why should medical insurance cover it? I don't want my money going towards someone's face lift. It's not purely cosmetic like having a nose job.

Also, I don't "identify" as a man; I am a man as that is my experience of myself, and I'm an adult with male secondary sex characteristics. (As for the primary characteristics, I didn't have any control over that, but I change what I can and learn to live with what I can't or I'll go insane.) Biology really does make the difference here. You can "identify" as anything.

If you don't feel distress over it, then there's no point of transitioning.

That post is a reason I don't go to the trans support group. Hardly anyone there has dysphoria, hardly anyone is transitioning and lots of them are still very much looking and acting like their birth sex. Ask something about insurance or name change forms and very few have any idea.
And you mentioning insurance is an issue of MASSIVE implications. We need medical attention, and we need to be in distress to get it. It works tremendously to our advantage to have diagnosis attached to it because then it opens up the possibility of insurance coverage. If lots of trans people are fine without even changing simple things about their appearance that's actually problematic for us because it opens up the possibility to have our gains taken from us.
And we just aren't going through the same thing. We aren't. But anymore it seems effeminate men and tomboys are just called nonbinary and lumped in with us.

I would like to learn more about this, since it's not something I have close familiarity with as a cis person. When I look up whether gender dysphoria is a requirement to be considered under the transgender umbrella, medical sources say that it isn't. For example:

Not all transgender people suffer from gender dysphoria and that distinction is important to keep in mind. Gender dysphoria and/or coming out as transgender can occur at any age.

The DSM-5-TR* distinguishes between Gender Dysphoria in Childhood for those who experience Gender Dysphoria before puberty. The diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents and Adults can occur at any age. For those who experience gender dysphoria later in life, they often report having secretly hidden their gender dysphoric feelings from others when they were younger.

*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), Fifth edition, Text Revision. American Psychiatric Association. 2013

Expert Q&A: Gender Dysphoria

But then I have also heard arguments from trans people that dysphoria is the distinguishing factor, so why do medical professionals no longer see it as a requirement for being trans? And if it isn't, what is a more accurate way to describe non-cis people who also don't have gender dysphoria?
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
She's mirroring the form of his tweet: he starts by saying something praising Rowling as a means of saying something critical about other women. She says something positive as a means of saying something critical about his approach.

You see people doing this on RF every day, responding in the form of the post they are replying to.

I think it's entirely different when someone with her reach and influence does this on a public platform. On RF, posts have little to no consequence in the grand scheme of things, and no high-profile figures or politicians are reading what we have to say. This isn't the case with Rowling, and it seems to me that it should have especially been a reason for her to be mindful when the positive thing she said was specifically about the anti-trans movie.

I can't see anything that she has said that is "anti-scientific", all of her views seem scientifically defensible, even if the science is often blurred on this issue.

To me it seems like she thinks transwomen should be free to live as women in general, but it must be acknowledged that there are differences between ciswomen and transwomen and these can be consequential. If you accept this then this is an issue of competing rights rather than right/wrong.

For example, should a women's refuge for victims of sexual abuse be allowed to refuse entry to a transwoman with a penis? Some people will insist its transphobic to do this, but there is clearly legitimate reasons why their presence may be intimidating to vulnerable ciswomen. You need to favour one right over another, and favouring the ciswomen does not necessitate hate or prejudice against transwomen.

Unless you say there can never be any differences in treatment between cis/transwomen you are accepting there must be some lines drawn that justify different treatment, it's just a question of where ti draw these lines. But to get the most equitable solution to all involved, this would require the ability to discuss the issue openly, without the fear that armies of ideologues will parse every word you say and try to "problematise" it to gain social credit.

We also have to accept that if self-ID is all that matters, some bad-faith actors will abuse this. This will cause some harms. The extent to which this will happen is unknown and unknowable, but it certainly will happen because that's human nature.

Rowling pointed out that cismen will abuse the system, and this got spun into "she says transwomen are just men in dresses".

The other point of criticism is that she has expressed concern that vulnerable teens are being transitioned too quickly and without sufficient safeguarding.

This is a highly disputed area, but a gender identity clinic in the UK was closed down amid accusations it was fast-tracking people without sufficient exploration of alternatives, and some researchers have suggested detransitioning is underreported.

It seems like a legitimate concern to me on an issue people should investigate further with an open mind and look at the emerging evidence. I don't think anyone can say who is "right" at this point.

What would you say is the best evidence she is "anti-scientific"?

I'm referring to her criticism of "gender identity theory" as well as her defense of a gender-critical person (Maya Forstater) as defense of anti-scientific beliefs. Medical consensus is that gender is real, and it's described as an identity in current scientific literature. She simply and directly goes against this by suggesting that it's just some "theory" that she can dismiss on social media as a writer without any medical background.

I agree the rest of the beliefs you listed are blurrier, and I think they do warrant detailed discussion. It's worth noting that she has never engaged in such a discussion, though; she has only given her opinions and then lashed out against people who disagreed. Stephen King merely said, "Trans women are women" and got blocked by her for it.

Also, I think the issue about trans women in women's restrooms is heavily blown out of proportion. Within any group, some individuals abuse reasonable and necessary rules or laws. Some people have lied about being gay in order to obtain asylum. Should asylum for LGBT people be revoked altogether because of these bad actors? Even when only cis women are allowed into women's restrooms, sometimes huge fights happen.

I don't see this as an issue of competing rights unless it is evidenced that a disproportionate number of trans women are identifying as such in order to gain access to women's restrooms for nefarious purposes. Otherwise it's the same as with every single group who are bound by specific laws where the vast majority who are law-abiding shouldn't be tarred with the brush of the fringe bad actors.
 
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Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
I haven't read any of it, but that seems to be the case. An author can't be held responsible for what someone wants to read into it, and it happens a lot (we all do it).
In the US, why are trans women so obsessed with cisgender women's judgment?
I couldn't care less about cisgender women's judgment, because I am into men...so it's their judgment I am interested in.

If trans women had just ignored Rowling's statements, nothing of this would have ever happened.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
"Transmedicalism" was just the normal view of it until the political radicals took over a couple decades ago. If you don't have sex/gender dysphoria, you're not trans. Otherwise, what are the boundaries? At this point, pretty much everyone is "trans", due to "non-binary" being added on and that itself being something you just identify into.

"Trans" isn't something you identify as. It's not an identity. It's not an umbrella. It's just shorthand for transsexual or transgender, which used to mean the same thing. I'm tired of this crap and tired of being demonized, especially by people who aren't even trans and don't have dysphoria. Most of you don't even know what dysphoria is. If you woke up (being that you're female) with a penis, testicles, scrotum, prostate, male bone structure, male voice, etc. then you'd probably have it and might understand. It's not just the discomfort with puberty that I see so many talking about (no one under the sun enjoys puberty). It starts before puberty. I wouldn't be taking testosterone for almost 9 years now if it weren't for a medical condition. Otherwise, why should medical insurance cover it? I don't want my money going towards someone's face lift. It's not purely cosmetic like having a nose job.

Also, I don't "identify" as a man; I am a man as that is my experience of myself, and I'm an adult with male secondary sex characteristics. (As for the primary characteristics, I didn't have any control over that, but I change what I can and learn to live with what I can't or I'll go insane.) Biology really does make the difference here. You can "identify" as anything.

If you don't feel distress over it, then there's no point of transitioning.
Trans is an identity and an umbrella to many people. And monolithing everyone as having a different perspective than you as 'political radicals' (including entire psychology institutions like those that went into making DSM V criterium) is unconstructive and obtuse. You disagree, that's fine. But people like non-binary transgender people or people who experience things like gender euphoria but not gender dysphoria are tired of sections of the community gatekeeping the term by decades out of date information. And they're just as entitled to that frustration as you are to yours. Congrats, gender is a spectrum and you occupy one part of it according to your own experiences.
 
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