Mac Skychief
Irrespective of the mass media agenda, I see a guy with long hair..

jessica murray
you know, as a trans person i don't exactly disagree with this.

the problem in this debate is that it sets up this strawman that trans people see ourselves as biologically identical to the gender we identify as. of course we don't. i'm fully aware that i don't menstruate, for example. but, it's really missing the point.

whether you wish to define transwomen as exceedingly effeminate men that choose to live in a female gender role or as female souls converting their exterior to better match their personality is a broadly irrelevant debate around meaningless points of semantics. i, personally, do not really care which of these things you actually think. i just expect a level of basic respect to be attached to my life decisions.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-transgender-woman-challenges-social-media-with-topless-photos-1.3267068

Iknewthat
You have my respect. It's just hard for most of us to understand, because we don't have your point of view and never will. It's confusing.

jessica murray
a lot of people will throw science at you, but if you ask them to actually cite any you won't get any good answers. there's a hypothesis that there may be genetic factors. i'm not going to throw the idea out the window entirely because there are certainly people born with unusual chromosome matchings and it does stand to reason that there may be additional factors. but there's not actually any hard data on the table, and i'm pretty skeptical about it being a general explanation.

i've been posting here a lot since the election call, and i've let on more than once that i'm somewhat of an anarchist that is leaning liberal at the moment. but, social anarchism is essentially extreme liberalism on social issues. and, my actual viewpoint on this is that it's none of your business. a truly liberal perspective on transsexuality is perfectly comfortable with arguing that transition is a harmless personal choice, and that harmless personal choices should be respected for what they are. that applies as equally well to gender identity as it does to marijuana consumption, sexual orientation or whatever other harmless personal choice you want to cite.

that's going to get me on the wrong side of a lot of debates. but, i think we're collectively asking the wrong question, and it's the fact that we're asking the wrong question that's created all these ridiculous perspectives.

Albertasucks
So if I think I'm a chick I can use the chick change room? I can request a police search from a chick? Use the chick washroom? Scream sexual harassment and get a large cheque if a male colleague smiles at me? Just like a chick? Even though I'm a 200 pound male that likes hockey and wears a shirt and tie?

jessica murray
i'm just curious - what's you're opinion on lesbians using the female change room? or gay men using the male change room?

you don't actually have a point. i mean, do you want to tell a trans male with a beard to use the women's change room? or a trans female with breast augmentation to use the men's? but, even if you did, you might want to think it through a bit more. the reality is that gay people exist, and they use public facilities. it is already a fact of life that you have a relatively high chance of bumping into somebody that may be attracted to you when you're using a public facility.

just as an aside about the police check thing, though. about a year ago, i had to go over to detroit to get my border papers signed. i don't have a vehicle, so getting in to the border office was difficult [i ended up getting a lift by a kind fellow at the "welcome to the usa" info station]. in trying to figure out how to get in, i accidentally ended up walking past security on the ambassador bridge, looking for some cops to talk to. they said that the only way they could shuttle me over was to pat me down first, due to protocol, but they couldn't do it because they didn't have any female border guards. i was not able to wave the necessity of being patted down by a female officer, and allow a male officer to pat me down instead. thankfully, that wasn't a huge problem, but it could have been.

the consequences of all of these things can be pretty complicated, when you actually work them out beyond simplistic analyses.