Transitory

Lately we've seem to hit critical mass on the transgender issue. As usual, the usual factions have aligned themselves with the usual sides, and not looked back. Unfortunately, even among people who, after a fashion, support transgender individuals, there are a number of problems. In the long and proud tradition of white straight cis men explaining things about persecuted minorities, I am here today to clear up a few things about those transgender folk we keep hearing so much about lately.

Transitioning from one sex to another is like me wanting to "transition" from human to dolphin/chimp/other!

Well… that analogy doesn't hold up at all.

Here are some relevant facts:

1) In the womb, up to about 8 weeks, the genital structures of male and female embryos are identical (though they more closely resemble female). At that point, different hormones and processes start pushing those structures into the "male" or "female" categories. One can imagine that the similar changes occur in the rest of the body and brain in the same time frame.

2) Many babies are born with ambiguous genitalia. This can range from a perfect "hermaphrodite" (having equally developed male and female genitals) to 99% male or female but with some vestige of other features, and everything in between. It doesn't take much imagination to see that the parts of the brain responsible for "feeling your gender" could have the same issues.

3) There are XY females: these are people born with XY chromosomes (normally male), but with the outward appearance of a woman. They usually don't experience things like significant breast growth etc, but many never realize it until some other issue arises which exposes the condition. And some people are XXY, from which can arise a variety of gender/sex ambiguities.

4) Artificially injecting a person with sex hormones (estrogens, testosterones, progestogens), has a predictable effect on how that person feels in relation to their gender. And natural variations in a population and over time in individuals of these hormones is inevitable.

I mention all these to make the claim that gender and sex as categories are not quite as concrete as you obviously think, and nowhere near as distinct as species.

It's easy to imagine that, for example, a fetus might start developing into a male but something in the brain quite doesn't complete the journey, so that person ends up with male features but "feels" female (or vice versa). Or, later in life, hormone or mental changes might make a feminine person slowly become more masculine.

But no such pathway or relationship exists between human and [whatever ridiculous animal example you used]. At no point does any process push an embryo to choose between "human" and "chimp" (sorry Ricky Gervais).

Transitioning from one sex to another is like me wanting to transition from White to Black!

At least you stayed in the human species this time! However, it doesn't hold up either. The "black" and "white" biological features amount to skin color, and some shape differences in the skull, nose, and lips. They mean little, and amount to the not-so-amazing realization that you inherit your features from your parents. You do not inherit your sex/gender from your parents. No clear analogy to sex differences.

So if you mean you really want to physical transform into a black person, it has little to do with sex differences, but plastic surgery can change some of those: have at it.

As far as behavior, that's 100% cultural, and varies quite a bit. Did you know that there are black people who don't like rap, and don't/can't play basketball? And there are white people raised in "black neighborhoods" who behave, culturally, "black"? Are you amazed that cultural identity is very little like gender identity?

Transgender people are just mentally ill! Don't give into their delusions!

Whether identifying as transgender is a mental illness may or may not be up for debate, but it doesn't matter: The only treatment that works is transitioning. These are people who have felt most of their lives that something was wrong. Given the likely repercussions, I'm sure the vast majority did not want to be perceived as different, and they tried to hide, or seek what treatment they could, but it just doesn't work, and sometimes results in massive anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. So even if you count it as a mental illness, the only treatment that works is transitioning.

I'm not a gender essentialist: I don't believe that gender forces little girls to like dresses and little boys to like sports. My theory is that while gender might lead to some vague tendencies towards certain behaviors, most of the conformity occurs when children come to identify with their gender ("Oh, I'm a girl!", or "Oh, I'm a boy!"), then look around and observe what the other girls/women or boys/men around then are doing/wearing/playing and gravitate towards that.

So, a child who appears male at birth but "feels female" (or vice versa) might be quite confused as they grow up, but might still want to emulate the behaviors of the girls around them, or maybe will try to "fit in" with the boys but will still be absorbing what it means to "be female" (again, or vice versa).

There. Now a white, straight, cis male has (very poorly) explained it, so you have to believe it! It's in the rules. I checked.