Via the New York Times: My daughter is not transgender. She’s a tomboy. https://t.co/f0w0XeZh3s
— IGF CultureWatch (@IndeGayForum) April 20, 2017
An interesting comment posted here:
When I hear about children who are identified as transgender today, I often think about what would have happened if I had been asked if I wanted to be a boy in 1987. I probably would have weighed the pros and cons and said “does that mean I don’t have to wear dresses or waste my time with makeup, can I have short hair, and not be made fun of for being stronger than all the boys? Sure, I’m a boy if it means you’ll leave me alone and let me play!” That’s a terrible position to put a child in– and, for many female children (and their parents), I fear, taking the transgender path may ultimately be a pyrrhic victory.
I love being a grown lesbian woman today (yup, lots of those “tomboys” will turn into lesbians that reveal the complexity and diversity of womanhood). I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I have little doubt that many folks would be more comfortable with me and my lesbian sisters if we were “gender-conforming” straight men. What a loss that would be for everyone.
20 Comments for “Gender Nonconforming Isn’t Necessarily Transgender”
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Gender Nonconforming Isn’t Necessarily Transgender
Well, duh.
posted by Lori Heine on
I’m not getting how, because a few people are a-holes to someone’s tomboy daughter, this is somehow the fault of transgenders everywhere.
Though I suspect this is the same thing we get from the Left all the time–an emotional appeal, unhooked from reason.
Anyone not content to live in a bubble will come fairly promptly to the conclusion that both sides do this. Because we keep coming to this site, that’s a pretty good indication that most of us are aware of that.
There’s a lot of great stuff out there, one would think, that an LGBT libertarian/conservative blog might talk about. Oh, a ton of it–with new material every day. Instead, we get…this.
Other people are discussing it. I keep coming back here, hoping to find some of it on this site. Occasionally, I do–so I don’t totally give up. But then, there’s…this.
Transgender people get enough crap as it is. Most of them have little or nothing to do with how the “Gay Left” portrays them or attempts to use them. When a long-oppressed minority picks on an even smaller and more-oppressed minority, that’s a pretty crappy thing to do.
posted by TJ on
“Transgender” within the context of most contemporary public discussions isn’t the same thing as simply being a “tomgirl” or a “sissy”. People who talk about these issues, ought to know this.
The fact that a boy may like to bake, and a girl may like to play British soccer, does not mean that they are a good candidate for sexual reasignment. It also don’t mean that they will grow up to be gay or straight. People who talk about these issues, should probably do more then a Wikipedia search.
I can respect the basic argument that the process involved in getting a sex reasignment surgery should have certain, fact based procedures involved.
What I have much less respect is for people wjo don’t really know what they are talking about, trying to BS their way through an important debate.
posted by Jorge on
(yup, lots of those “tomboys” will turn into lesbians that reveal the complexity and diversity of womanhood)
Perhaps that mother should answer that “is she really a boy?” with “No, she’s a butch lesbian.”
posted by Kosh III on
“There’s a lot of great stuff out there, one would think, that an LGBT libertarian/conservative blog might talk about. Oh, a ton of it–with new material every day. Instead, we get…this.
Indeed. Never one word about how the GOP/Conservatives/etc are still bashing gays, still pushing hateful and harmful legislation, not to mention the continued promulgation of poisonous propaganda.
Where’s the outrage by avowed Evangelical/Religious Right over what’s happening in Chechnya, or Jamaica, Uganda, NIgeria etc etc.
Instead we get…this.
posted by Jorge on
Instead we get…this.
Your post cannot fool me.
The culture war is real, and deadly serious, and the country is onto it. That’s why Trump will “Make America Great Again.”
You want to go neo-con on gay rights? Why? We already started a good run with Obama’s State Department, and that hasn’t ended yet. That’s there already? You want to go protectionist and fight the big bad Republicans? Can’t you already do that any time you want? You’ve got the big cities, the media, and half the years of the presidency to push gay rights forward.
What we don’t have is… this. The culture war swinging. It won’t block the other trends you want to keep seeing, and it’s long overdue.
(If it won’t block the other trends, then this post is of little use. Ah, but the culture war, right.)
posted by Lori Heine on
Jorge, I really have no clue what you’re saying in that comment. There are just too many chopped spring greens, cherry tomatoes, shredded ribbons of red cabbage and garlicky croutons.
Perhaps you’re having a bit of fun. I’m sure it’s most enjoyable.
posted by Jorge on
This story is important to highlight because of the importance of the Culture War in the United States between progressive and traditional Americans.
The fate of LGBT rights internationally and domestically are both important, but culture war issues are more so because they have been in greater danger for a much longer and uninterrupted period of time.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
… hateful and harmful legislation …
The ACLU tracks legislation affecting LGBT Americans, updating every Monday, for those interested.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Where’s the outrage by avowed Evangelical/Religious Right over what’s happening in Chechnya, or Jamaica, Uganda, Nigeria etc etc.
Little, if any, exists. US-based, far-right anti-gay conservative Christians were involved in establishing the oppressive religious/political/legal situation in many of those countries (Russia, Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and so on). Why would conservative Christians be outraged at what they supported?
And won’t hear much about anti-gay oppression in Christian countries on IGF. Although homocons like to wallow in self-pity and are quick to point out each and every act of oppression perpetrated, nothing much is, or will be, heard from them about oppression in predominantly Christian countries.
Homocons aren’t interested in offending the conservative Christian base.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
… quick to point out each and every act of oppression perpetrated …
Should read: “… quick to point out each and every act of oppression perpetrated by Muslims …
posted by Wilberforce on
Unlike doctrinaire liberals, who spend their days making excuses for the savage cruelties of any culture with brown skin.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Unlike doctrinaire liberals, who spend their days making excuses for the savage cruelties of any culture with brown skin.
As I recall, liberals (probably not “doctrinaire”, though) took Chechnya, Nigeria, Kenya, Belize, Russia, Jamaica, India and other countries to task for anti-gay governmental policies.
posted by TJ on
So. The “liberals” at Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International LGBT Association have not been raising awareness about the status of LGBT rights in other nations?
Or how about the “liberals” who have specfically tried to get nations to change their policies and procedures, while elected to office or through work with the EU or the UN.
posted by Wilberforce on
I like how you shift attention away from my point.
Let’s think for a moment. Where might there be a culture that is utterly horrible to gay people, a culture that liberals ignore?
posted by Jorge on
The ghetto.
posted by TJ on
Well, just about ANY culture where large numbers of people are poor, where democratic institutions are weak or nonexistent, and gender equality is not supported….is going to suck for lots of people…including LGBT people.
Israel got better on LGBT rights because it got better on these key areas.
Turkey was getting better, until the recent political trends.
Turkey was very close to adding Constitutional protections for LGBT rights
that would have included same-sex marriage.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Unlike doctrinaire liberals, who spend their days making excuses for the savage cruelties of any culture with brown skin. … Where might there be a culture that is utterly horrible to gay people, a culture that liberals ignore?
An interesting question.
I’m curious about the “culture that is utterly horrible to gay people” that you contend “that liberals ignore”, but I have a feeling that you’ll answer your own question sooner or later, and I suspect that I already know what the answer will be.
Human Rights Watch lists Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Burma, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Gaza, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guyana, India, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinindad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States (Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah), Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as having laws that “criminalize consensual, same-sex relations; punishments include prison sentences, flogging, and even the death penalty”, detailing the laws and the penalties in each case.
Amnesty International issues a complex and detailed annual report on human rights abuses around the globe, including humans rights abuses directed at gays and lesbians. Needless to say, given the herd mentality and lock-step hegemony of liberals, Amnesty International’s list is more or less identical to the Human Rights Watch list.
The State Department’s “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” listed almost all of the same countries during the Obama administration (no surprise, I suppose), and I assume that the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016” (prepared by the Obama administration and transmitted to Congress by Secretary Tillerson earlier this year) keeps the list more or less intact, although I haven’t read the 2016 report so I don’t know.
Being politically correct and all, I’ve made no attempt to sort any of the lists by skin color, so you are stuck with an alphabetical list and can do your own color sorting.
Obviously, since Australia, Canada, and EU countries are missing from the list, I suspect that the lists’ skin tone tends toward “brown skin”, so you may have a superficial case that darker skin correlates with “savage cruelties” (c.f. Rudyard Kipling), but I suspect that other factors (cultural tradition, religion, history of colonialism, developmental status, for example) might correlate more accurately, if less dramatically.
posted by Jorge on
Needless to say, given the herd mentality and lock-step hegemony of liberals, Amnesty International’s list is more or less identical to the Human Rights Watch list.
I’ll bet even the parentheses are the same, but I’ll not lose sleep over it.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) “State Sponsored Homophobia” report (11th Edition, May 2016) is as good a summary of international laws affecting gays and lesbians as I’ve seen yet, including a detailed analysis of criminalization laws. It is well worth a read.