One of my relatives just posted a rant on Facebook about Caitlyn Jenner. Said “just being honest…” “this is disgusting…” “insulting to actual women…” “this is a mental disorder, pure and simple…” “How far have we come as a society that this is “accepted” (honored?) on the cover of a magazine!!!”
I get that not everyone is totally comfortable with this. We don’t all understand it, though many of us are trying to. We may be taken aback by it, might have an unconscious, visceral negative reaction to it. I don’t claim to be able to totally wrap my head around every aspect, though I certainly am trying to learn more and listen.
But this relative is a family therapist with a Psy D. Someone who should have an understanding of this, and more importantly, should have a great deal of compassion and empathy. If she believes this is a mental disorder, why, as a mental health professional and patient advocate, is she going public with her disdain and “disgust” on the internet?
I’m stunned, though perhaps given a lot of other factors shouldn’t be. But I thought she had a lot more kindness in her heart than this…
I actually sat there open mouthed as I read my news feed, and then just felt…kind of sad.
Not wild about the choice of the outfit for the cover, but have to say that Annie Leibovitz’s photography rocks.
Slightly OT, but since we are talking about Olympic records and sports… MOfWC, so true about German track athletes… Many had no idea they were doped. Imagine devoting your entire life to athletics, and later your world starts crumbling around you, and you feel as if your entire life was a twisted mess of fraud and deceit. Thank goodness Caltlyn does not have to deal with this issue!
Here is a good article about Heidi Krieger, a German shot putter who was a victim of the East Germany’s OC’s pharmacological experiments and later decided to undergo sex change:
If I were to transition, I’d go with my middle name which happens to be a male name - it was my Dad’s first name and his mother’s maiden name. It’s not ever been super popular, but is quite classic.
What I meant by suggesting asterisks is that if the people who maintain records decide that it is best to list this athlete as Caitlyn Jenner, people might think that the inclusion of this person with an obviously female name in a list of male athletes is an error. A footnote explaining that Caitlyn was then known as Bruce Jenner and identified as a man at the time could help people understand.
Alternatively, athletic records could continue to list Bruce Jenner.
Gender reassignment is different from a simple name change. It doesn’t matter when Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali – that person was eligible to compete in the same categories regardless of his name. But Caitlyn Jenner would not have been eligible to compete in men’s decathlon.
As for the name change question: If I transitioned, I would choose the male name my parents had chosen to give me if I had been born male. I happen to like that name very much.
BunsenBurner, what a sad story. I’m sure the phrase “East German ‘female’ athletes” would receive a chuckle from most people my age. But what a terrible thing to have done to those young women!
Nrdsb4- Your post confirms what my liberal priest daughter just tweeted- “The #CaitlynJenner news has made it blissfully easy to cull my Facebook friends.”
In addition to reading this post of a relative, I see all kinds of stuff being written by other “Facebook friends” that has been surprising and disheartening. Even perhaps a little more disappointing is seeing the number of “likes” these posts get and who is validating them. Some surprises in there, I have to say.
I think that’s understandable considering scientists know so little about how gender identity is determined inutero.
I wonder if some people’s abhorrence has to do with a belief that the transgender person is “going against what God intended” when it might be more fair to acknowledge that God (or Nature) allows defects and mistakes to occur in human reproduction. No one objects if babies born with defects that manifest themselves physically receive treatment to give them as normal and happy a life as possible. So why not allow people to repair defects that happened neurologically in the way that works best for them to have a happy life.
As science progresses to pinpoint exactly what has to occur to determine gender physically and mentally, doctors may one day be able to diagnose where the misfire occurred and then we will all “get” it when a child doesn’t “feel” the gender he/she appears to be.
In the future, we may be able to say something like, *we just found out my brother’s child has that neuro-chemical disorder where the fetal brain cells failed to produce sufficient prostaglandins…you know, just like Caitlyn Jenner…it’s tough, but at least we know what to do to help him. *
A trans woman I know recently had facial feminization surgery. Subtle, but effective. It also includes what is basically a facelift, so she looks younger. Even moved the hairline. Now she has to figure out what to do with her hair.
Firstly, I couldn’t care less either way - that entire clan is a bunch of narcissistic dopes. But I am curious - why MUST everyone accept this choice? Isn’t the idea of liberalism to be accepting of all opinions - even if you don’t agree with them?
Of course everyone doesn’t have to accept this choice (not that being trans is a choice in the first place), but other people are perfectly entitled to criticize that kind of non-acceptance. And, no, liberalism and tolerance do not require accepting intolerance and bigotry. That’s specious logic. Karl Popper wrote a famous essay on the subject that’s definitely worth reading. In any event, as a liberal and a Jew, I am not required to “accept” anti-Semitism; as a liberal and a trans woman, I am not required to “accept” transphobia. I can’t force people to accept or even tolerate Jews or trans people, but I can certainly speak out against anti-Semitism and transphobia.
Laverne Cox wrote something about the publicity surrounding Caitlyn Jenner today that I think is “spot on” (as the British say!). I probably shouldn’t link directly to her tumblr (it’s at lavernecox dot tumblr dot com), but this Jezebel post describes and links to what she wrote:
Things have changed enormously for trans people in the last 35 years; I’m not surprised that trans people were advised back then (although things were starting to change a little) not to transition if they had children (or at least minor children) – just as they were advised that they should be “stealth” and cut off all connections with friends and family, that they shouldn’t transition if they were attracted to women, that they had to demonstrate “femininity” by wearing dresses and skirts all the time, and that they should only pursue stereotypically female professions like being a hairdresser or manicurist or cosmetologist or secretary. No lumberjacks! Plus, the vilification and ridicule trans people received back then – which was expected to spill over to their children – was incomparably greater then than it is now.
I transitioned 10 years ago, when my son was 15, and he was and is completely accepting, and is doing just fine, thank you very much. I believe that our relationship is even better now than it was before I transitioned, probably because I’m a happier person. I know many, many other trans people with children who had similar experiences. The worst outcomes have been when a former spouse refuses to allow the trans person to see their children anymore – all the courts, generally speaking, no longer accept that. To rely on what someone said 35 years ago, and completely ignore everything that’s happened since then – demonstrating that children are harmed no more by a parent transitioning than they are by having an openly gay or lesbian parent (of course, back then, coming out as G or L if you had children was also frowned upon) – does not seem to me to be a reasonable position to take.
Plus, in any event, that sort of advice was really meant for trans people with minor children. Most of Caitlyn Jenner’s children aren’t children anymore – I think the youngest is 17 or 18.
