Most Americans feel some confusion when it comes to the issue of transgenderism. The idea that one can become the opposite gender just by getting hormone therapy and by making an identification wish (“I identify as a woman”) is just bad science fiction. Gender is not a social construct.
Perhaps the most famous sex change in modern history was Army vet George William Jorgensen’s transition in 1952. Jorgensen, after becoming Christine, became an instant celebrity. In interviews after her surgery, Jorgensen expressed concern that too many people were clamoring for sex change operations in a fad-like way. She was adamant in cautioning prospective transsexuals to be very careful before taking this irreversible step. She also hinted that there were very few “real” transsexuals.
In today’s world there’s far less caution than there was in Jorgensen’s time when it comes to switching genders. Jorgensen’s warning has been forgotten. Children as young as eight are coming out as transgender, and for the first time ever they are being encouraged to do so by parents who then send them off to sex reassignment operating rooms.
A study at Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic reported that 70 to 80% of children who come to identify with the opposite sex lose these feelings over time. The startling fact is that too many children in the throes of gender role play are assumed to be transgender and then put on hormone therapy routines. This assumes that a pre-adolescent child knows what he/she wants. Encouraging kids into changing their gender because they feel a brief affinity for the opposite sex is madness.
Before I’m accused of transphobia and hate speech, let me say that I respect the right of anyone to do whatever they want to do with their body: Tattoo it to smithereens; punch holes in your forehead or earlobes; pluck an eye out and replace it with an emerald or a rhinestone. Have a ball. And if you want to be a MTF or a FTM, go right ahead and do that too. I’ll respect your decision and your civil rights. And while I may not call you “they,” I won’t look askance, judge, snarl, or roll my eyes when I meet trans people in public. But the one thing I will not do is say that you probably don’t suffer from a sort of delusion, or what used to be called gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder (GID).
Today the label “transphobic” is applied to anyone who questions the current PC politics of transgenderism.
Yet certain facts cannot be ignored. Johns Hopkins University used to do sex reassignment surgery on a daily basis but halted all such operations when Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief there, wrote that transgenderism is a mental disorder which merits treatment and that a “sex change is biologically impossible.” McHugh added: “People who promote sexual reassignment surgery promote a mental disorder.” He cited the suicide rates among trans people after surgery. The suicide rate among transgender people is 20 times higher than among non-transgender people and these feelings are unrelated to societal persecution.
Check out the YouTube video with Ben Shapiro and reporter trans activist Zoey Tur. The topic was a Courage Award given to Caitlyn Jenner. Shapiro, who maintained a gentlemanly demeanor throughout the discussion, stated that he thought that transgenderism was a mental disorder, while clearly going out of his way to say that he respects Zoey as a human being. His beef was with “the philosophy” of transgenderism in general.
But Tur called Shapiro’s criticism of transgenderism hate speech and then told him: “You cut that out now or you’ll go home in an ambulance.”
Other members of the panel let the threat pass, although the People’s Pundit Daily reported that “after the taping, Shapiro alleged that Tur further threatened him, saying, ‘I’ll see you in the parking lot,’ which Tur did not deny. In fact, Tur doubled down on the threat the very next day, stating he would like to ‘curb stomp’ Shapiro.’”
This level of vitriol, unfortunately, is not uncommon when people disagree with the accepted canon of transgenderism.
I have watched a fair number of online videos of FTM and MTF transitions. In the MTF videos, the MTF speaker often seems captivated by the cosmetic glamour of being a woman. These young “men” in their 20s are generally more concerned about looking glamorous and sexy than they are about the more interior, substantive aspects of being a woman. The fixation on cosmetic beauty (blue hair, Vogue accents, etc.) is daunting, as if being a woman was only about the thrill of fashion. Exceptions exist, of course, but the focus in most of these videos is superficial and narcissistic.
Some of the videos touch on the sensitive subject of asking a trans person whether they still have a penis or a vagina. In many cases this is forbidden territory. It’s a no-zone area, and the question is immediately put down by ideologues as being in bad taste or “gross,” as if having a penis or a vagina had nothing whatsoever to do with being a man or a woman.
“It shouldn’t matter if I have a penis or not,” a weight-lifting, super-masculine FTM might state. “As long as I identify as a male, I am male.” Well, most would disagree, but for the record we’ll just call you a nice guy without a penis. Is that okay? (FYI: This doesn’t mean that we hate you, either.)
The FTM videos are equally as fascinating. There you’ll see “hunky dude” trans men with muscled chests, beards, tattoos, great legs and deep sexy voices, many of whom might “out macho” many real men.
Having said this, there’s still one problem: these dudes are still biological women.
As Camille Paglia wrote: “Sex reassignment surgery, even today with all of its advances, cannot in fact change anyone’s sex. … You can define yourself as a trans man, or a trans woman, as one of these new gradations along the scale. But ultimately, every single cell in the human body, the DNA in that cell, remains coded for your biological birth.” Paglia added: “ … History is cyclic, and everywhere in the world you find this pattern in ancient times: that as a culture begins to decline, you have an efflorescence of transgender phenomena. That is a symptom of cultural collapse.”
Dangerous “transphobic” words, indeed!
In Iran, sexual reassignment surgery is legal while homosexuality is a crime and punishable by death. The vast majority of Iranian men (and women) who undergo sex reassignment surgery are not women or men trapped in the bodies of the opposite sex, but gay people who don’t want to be executed. Surgery is their only hope. As post-op “trans women” they may then live openly as women although they are bound by Iran’s strict female behavioral codes. Since (trans) women have difficulty finding employment, many turn to prostitution because in Iran, a man can marry a woman, trans or otherwise, then divorce her 30 minutes later, making the sex act between them legal. This can be done multiple times a day, all of it sanctioned by Islamic law.
Is the transgender implosion happening in today’s world something that Christine Jorgensen would embrace? It’s highly doubtful. While Nature sometimes does make mistakes, and while there are undoubtedly some legitimate transgender cases worth considering, this is not the case generally. The world has lost its footing on this one.
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