So many sacred cows these days. There are many of us with such heretical thoughts, perhaps especially those of us who actually work with people seeking psychiatric care. Add to that the parents of adolescents declaring themselves gender dysphoric, in whose bewildered company I found myself a member, who are brought face to face with the dearth of common sense that now rules the spaces our children inhabit. The heretics are becoming more vocal; I've recently found books & podcasts from fellow liberals clinging to common sense, and these, as well as what you've written here, remind me that I'm not the only one.
I sometimes despair that writing posts like these are a scream into an empty well but then I remember that it's likely the number of people who think like us outnumber the people who don't, we just need to find each other.
Proud to be a heretic, Erin, and although I am minded of the fate of many heretics, I am encouraged by how many of them are the ones who have changed the world for the better. No one who followed the herd, to my knowledge, ever produced anything original or enlightening.
I don't think it's actually that your friends see race as a sacred cow. I think it's that they recognize an obvious silliness in the notion of transracialism which they refuse to recognize similarly in transsexism. It's plainly possible to pass for a person of a different ethnicity, and it's also plainly possible to pass for a person of the opposite sex. This difference in perceived appearance - or a desire for one to exist - does not imply a difference in actual substance, nor does it necessitate medical intervention in service of the desired end. If you want to *really* annoy your friends, air the notion of "race affirmation surgery."
So many sacred cows these days. There are many of us with such heretical thoughts, perhaps especially those of us who actually work with people seeking psychiatric care. Add to that the parents of adolescents declaring themselves gender dysphoric, in whose bewildered company I found myself a member, who are brought face to face with the dearth of common sense that now rules the spaces our children inhabit. The heretics are becoming more vocal; I've recently found books & podcasts from fellow liberals clinging to common sense, and these, as well as what you've written here, remind me that I'm not the only one.
I sometimes despair that writing posts like these are a scream into an empty well but then I remember that it's likely the number of people who think like us outnumber the people who don't, we just need to find each other.
Proud to be a heretic, Erin, and although I am minded of the fate of many heretics, I am encouraged by how many of them are the ones who have changed the world for the better. No one who followed the herd, to my knowledge, ever produced anything original or enlightening.
I don't think it's actually that your friends see race as a sacred cow. I think it's that they recognize an obvious silliness in the notion of transracialism which they refuse to recognize similarly in transsexism. It's plainly possible to pass for a person of a different ethnicity, and it's also plainly possible to pass for a person of the opposite sex. This difference in perceived appearance - or a desire for one to exist - does not imply a difference in actual substance, nor does it necessitate medical intervention in service of the desired end. If you want to *really* annoy your friends, air the notion of "race affirmation surgery."