Transsexuals, gender studies in 2016 - assistance please?

[Shadow Wolf]

I've never know anyone without psychological hangups.

Anyone who is honest with themselves can say the same thing about others and themselves.

 

[Timothy Bryce]

That doesn't make your bigotry OK.

I'm not quite as negative about prospects as I may have sounded. I think we can, are and will continue to engage in proper scientific research in this area, not focused on transgenderism alone but taking a much wider view on the complexities and mysteries of human self-identity. And I think that will continue to happen despite people like you.

Just to clarify:

So, I am to understand that you've inferred from my posts on this thread that:

1. I'm bigoted against transsexuals
2. I'm opposed to proper scientific research on the complexities and mysteries of human self-identity

I would tend to agree that one could make a weak argument for 1. but how has this thread in any way indicated 2.?

And if you think that I have a psychological hangup that involves an "obsession" with transsexuals, you clearly need some interaction with people in the flesh. This forum is hardly a focal point in my life.

Forgive me for trying to facilitate respectful and thoughtful discussion *******.

 

[HonestJoe]

I would tend to agree that one could make a weak argument for 1. but how has this thread in any way indicated 2.?

It's not that you're opposed to research but that you'd fight any conclusions that don't fit your preconceptions and would spin neutral conclusions in to a negative. After all, you'd already decided that all transgenders are mentally ill, specifically asking for evidence that their not (which isn't how scientific research works).

There's some bias in the other direction too of course, though that is as much defensive as anything else, still not right but more understandable.

 

[Timothy Bryce]

It's not that you're opposed to research but that you'd fight any conclusions that don't fit your preconceptions and would spin neutral conclusions in to a negative. After all, you'd already decided that all transgenders are mentally ill, specifically asking for evidence that their not (which isn't how scientific research works).

I haven't "decided" anything about transgenders. That's what this appeal was all about; and specifically, asking for something that does constitute conclusive scientific evidence. You seem to have approached me with the sole purpose of being antagonistic.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I think what a lot of people miss is that part of your identity is your physical self, but an equally (possibly more) important part is your mental self. Your brain is as much a part of your sexuality as your body.

There’s a good book by a Canadian Psychologist named Olive Skene Johnson, called “The Sexual Spectrum.” In it, she examines the fact that while we may be born with one set of sexual organs, some people do seem to be born with brains that identify differently. I have known such people, one of whom once complained loudly, “I don’t know why I’ve got this thing! I am not a man, I never felt like a boy.”

To complicate matters, of course, it is also possible to be attracted to either your own gender, the opposite gender, neither or both. So now you have quite an array of possibilities:

• A physically male person, who identifies as completely male, and who is also attracted exclusively to other males (that describes me).
• A physically male person, who identifies as completely male, who is attracted exclusively to females (that describes your everyday run-of-the-mill straight guy).
• A physically male person, who identifies as completely male, who is often attracted to either of the other genders (your basic bisexual).

I’ll let you work out all the other possibilities on your own.
My friend, above, by the way, eventually did have a sex reassignment operation (into female), but wonder of wonders, she ended up being attracted to other females!

 

[Shadow Wolf]

My friend, above, by the way, eventually did have a sex reassignment operation (into female), but wonder of wonders, she ended up being attracted to other females!

It's really no wonder. Trans-people are people, and like people, some of us are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, and so on. The only real difference for us is a world of denial that has us (not always, but very frequently, for both MtF and FtM) forcing a heterosexual identity upon ourselves, only to have to sort things out later as we transition and become more comfortable and at ease with ourselves.
Me, before accepting myself, I forced myself to be with women, and suppressed any and all attractions towards men. And then for sometime after I accepted myself, perhaps just from the comfort of the familiar, I used bisexual. But now that I'm moving further along with my transition I'm finding that now that I'm "being me" and not having to force myself that I'm just not sexually attracted towards women, making me a heterosexual woman.

 

[Aštra’el]

Its possible that most "heterosexual" people have not experienced enough awesome, mind blowing sexual encounters with people of the same sex, and most "homosexual" people have not experienced enough awesome mind-blowing sex with with people of the opposite sex, which would explain why they appear to be so ignorant towards the sexual prowess and potential of the sex they allegedly "do not find attractive".

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Its possible that most "heterosexual" people have not experienced enough awesome, mind blowing sexual encounters with people of the same sex, and most "homosexual" people have not experienced enough awesome mind-blowing sex with with people of the opposite sex, which would explain why they appear to be so ignorant towards the sexual prowess and potential of the sex they allegedly "do not find attractive".

One supposes that everything may be possible, but it remains a fact that the brain part of your being contributes hugely to sexual experience. As a gay man, I have had heterosexual encounters, and I really, really was not interested. You can "go through the motions," you can even orgasm, and yet still be essentially bored and anxious to "get it done" so you can return to the book you were reading.

In other words, your experience of sex (whether it will be "mind-blowing" or not) depends hugely upon how attracted you actually are long before the mechanical stuff starts.