The one thing I think this illustrates is that the scientific and medical study of trans and gender variant people is not some new invention of modern society nor are the culture wars and societal ignorance surrounding this subject. As noted, trans, gender non-confirming and homosexual people have existed throughout history and across every culture on the planet and are likely to continue doing so for eternity in spite of efforts of elimination and/or “genocide”.
FYI, the fascists are at it again. 1600 books have been banned in 5000 schools over the last year. 41% of them were targeted due to LGBT content. 370 anti-LGBT bills were filed in 2022, with many of them passing into law. The overwhelming majority of them targeted trans youth. Having the actual lived experiences of a trans child and teen, this concerns me greatly.
I’m sure everyone here already knows my story but briefly for those that don’t, I was determined to be male at birth but somehow knew from my earliest memories that this was a mistake, that I was not meant to be a boy and that I understood myself to be a girl in spite of the obvious contradictions. I never pretended to be anything other than what I knew myself to be which made my childhood extremely tumultuous to say the least. Even starting in kindergarten, schools didn’t want me, kids hated me and I was bullied, abused, ostracized and outcast for being different but I didn’t care because I knew to my very core what I was supposed to be and who I was. I was one stubborn and determined little shit, no doubt.
Switching to the TL;DR version, from a place of androgyny I began openly living as a girl in 1970 at 15 with my parents fully supportive because nothing else made any sense but due to the times, I still had to be that boy who looked and acted like a girl in order to stay in school which drove me into some pretty dark places.
I had been schlepped around to psychiatrists and psychologists from the time I was 10 years old but it wasn’t until I was 17 (1972) that one was found who could explain to me and my folks what the hell was going on or why I was born male but grew up to be a girl which sounds like the dumbest thing ever. I was diagnosed with “primary transsexualism”. (This was several years before the sketchy concept and terminology of “gender dysphoria” was developed.) I began taking cross-sex hormones (estrogen) before my senior year of high school and managed to graduate with obvious breast growth and long blonde hair down to my waist. Talk about being a freak or maybe I’ve just always been a Rogue?
After that I was never know as a boy again. I have never been a man and have quietly lived and worked the entirety of my adult life as the person I am today and taking a 6-week medical leave from work, I had sex reassignment surgery in 1977. It’s a long story I’ve shared before but at 19 I was blessed with the care of a newborn that is now 48 that I have always been mom to and I have been married to and divorced from a great guy that’s still a part of my life so all in all and for the most part, my life has been pretty normal.
This board is the only place I am “out” or talk about my transsexual history and I do so for the purpose of helping others have a better understanding of the phenomenon. A few of my close friends know and of course what little family I have does but I am otherwise what they call “stealth”. I am not actively part of the trans or LGBxyz community although I monitor what goes on there because it has become such a hot button topic and I want to stay abreast of the issues even if I am not directly affected but I will tell you that the trans thing being used as a political tool full of outright lies and misinformation has me concerned for others that have to deal with these things in today’s climate.
Because of my old school views, I am not welcome in today’s modern transgender whatever it is and in fact, think much of what is being pushed by activists is near if not pure bullshit. Even the popularization of word transgender irks me as it is so nebulous and all encompassing that it doesn’t mean anything or maybe it means everything? If I can’t figure it out or tell what is what, it is no wonder that cisgender heterosexuals can’t either.
I don’t disagree about the pronoun thing but I have to ask, have you ever actually encountered someone wanting to use some made up pronoun or is this just something you have read about on the internet? I haven’t. I don’t have a problem with they/them but when venturing into the realm of neo-pronouns, I am probably as reluctant and confused by it all as you are but if pronouns and pushy activists are the biggest complaint you have against trans and gender divergent people, I can live with that.
However, if you’ve been sucked into the save-the-children anti-trans hysteria, believe kids are being sex changed and “mutilated” by affirming care protocols and that all LGBTx people are groomers and pedophiles because Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro or Libs of TicToc, FOX News etc. says so, then we need to have a more thorough discussion.
FYI, the fascists are at it again. 1600 books have been banned in 5000 schools over the last year. 41% of them were targeted due to LGBT content. 370 anti-LGBT bills were filed in 2022, with many of them passing into law. The overwhelming majority of them targeted trans youth. Having the actual lived experiences of a trans child and teen, this concerns me greatly.
I’m sure everyone here already knows my story but briefly for those that don’t, I was determined to be male at birth but somehow knew from my earliest memories that this was a mistake, that I was not meant to be a boy and that I understood myself to be a girl in spite of the obvious contradictions. I never pretended to be anything other than what I knew myself to be which made my childhood extremely tumultuous to say the least. Even starting in kindergarten, schools didn’t want me, kids hated me and I was bullied, abused, ostracized and outcast for being different but I didn’t care because I knew to my very core what I was supposed to be and who I was. I was one stubborn and determined little shit, no doubt.
Switching to the TL;DR version, from a place of androgyny I began openly living as a girl in 1970 at 15 with my parents fully supportive because nothing else made any sense but due to the times, I still had to be that boy who looked and acted like a girl in order to stay in school which drove me into some pretty dark places.
I had been schlepped around to psychiatrists and psychologists from the time I was 10 years old but it wasn’t until I was 17 (1972) that one was found who could explain to me and my folks what the hell was going on or why I was born male but grew up to be a girl which sounds like the dumbest thing ever. I was diagnosed with “primary transsexualism”. (This was several years before the sketchy concept and terminology of “gender dysphoria” was developed.) I began taking cross-sex hormones (estrogen) before my senior year of high school and managed to graduate with obvious breast growth and long blonde hair down to my waist. Talk about being a freak or maybe I’ve just always been a Rogue?
After that I was never know as a boy again. I have never been a man and have quietly lived and worked the entirety of my adult life as the person I am today and taking a 6-week medical leave from work, I had sex reassignment surgery in 1977. It’s a long story I’ve shared before but at 19 I was blessed with the care of a newborn that is now 48 that I have always been mom to and I have been married to and divorced from a great guy that’s still a part of my life so all in all and for the most part, my life has been pretty normal.
This board is the only place I am “out” or talk about my transsexual history and I do so for the purpose of helping others have a better understanding of the phenomenon. A few of my close friends know and of course what little family I have does but I am otherwise what they call “stealth”. I am not actively part of the trans or LGBxyz community although I monitor what goes on there because it has become such a hot button topic and I want to stay abreast of the issues even if I am not directly affected but I will tell you that the trans thing being used as a political tool full of outright lies and misinformation has me concerned for others that have to deal with these things in today’s climate.
Because of my old school views, I am not welcome in today’s modern transgender whatever it is and in fact, think much of what is being pushed by activists is near if not pure bullshit. Even the popularization of word transgender irks me as it is so nebulous and all encompassing that it doesn’t mean anything or maybe it means everything? If I can’t figure it out or tell what is what, it is no wonder that cisgender heterosexuals can’t either.
”EndtheMadnessNow” Wrote:It would help if all this gender pronoun insanity was limited to 2 or 3 that are majority accepted and not all the nonsense of 'I identify as XYZ' propaganda. I mean do these trans people pushing this want us straight people to hate them? I'm sure there is nefarious agenda behind it being pushed by few, but the confusion just makes it all the more worse, for both sides, all sides.
I don’t disagree about the pronoun thing but I have to ask, have you ever actually encountered someone wanting to use some made up pronoun or is this just something you have read about on the internet? I haven’t. I don’t have a problem with they/them but when venturing into the realm of neo-pronouns, I am probably as reluctant and confused by it all as you are but if pronouns and pushy activists are the biggest complaint you have against trans and gender divergent people, I can live with that.
However, if you’ve been sucked into the save-the-children anti-trans hysteria, believe kids are being sex changed and “mutilated” by affirming care protocols and that all LGBTx people are groomers and pedophiles because Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro or Libs of TicToc, FOX News etc. says so, then we need to have a more thorough discussion.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.